Parallel Bible results for "isaiah 57"

Isaiah 57

New Living Translation NLT

1 Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come.

2 For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.

3 “But you—come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

4 Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars!

5 You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.

6 Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys. You worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings. They, not I, are your inheritance. Do you think all this makes me happy?

7 You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me.

8 You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies.

9 You have gone to Molech with olive oil and many perfumes, sending your agents far and wide, even to the world of the dead.

10 You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. Desire gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary.

11 “Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you? Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me and my words? Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?

12 Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you.

13 Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”

14 God says, “Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.”

15 The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

16 For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away— all the souls I have made.

17 I was angry, so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way.

18 I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn,

19 bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,” says the LORD, who heals them.

20 “But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.

21 There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Meanwhile, right-living people die and no one gives them a thought. God-fearing people are carted off and no one even notices. The right-living people are out of their misery, they're finally at rest.

2 They lived well and with dignity and now they're finally at peace.

3 "But you, children of a witch, come here! Sons of a slut, daughters of a whore.

4 What business do you have taunting, sneering, and sticking out your tongue? Do you have any idea what wretches you've turned out to be? A race of rebels, a generation of liars.

5 You satisfy your lust any place you find some shade and fornicate at whim. You kill your children at any convenient spot - any cave or crevasse will do.

6 You take stones from the creek and set up your sex-and-religion shrines. You've chosen your fate. Your worship will be your doom.

7 You've climbed a high mountain to practice your foul sex-and-death religion.

8 Behind closed doors you assemble your precious gods and goddesses. Deserting me, you've gone all out, stripped down and made your bed your place of worship. You've climbed into bed with the 'sacred' whores and loved every minute of it, adoring every curve of their naked bodies.

9 You anoint your king-god with ointments and lavish perfumes on yourselves. You send scouts to search out the latest in religion, send them all the way to hell and back.

10 You wear yourselves out trying the new and the different, and never see what a waste it all is. You've always found strength for the latest fad, never got tired of trying new religions.

11 "Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense, leaving me high and dry, forgetting you ever knew me? Because I don't yell and make a scene do you think I don't exist?

12 I'll go over, detail by detail, all your 'righteous' attempts at religion, and expose the absurdity of it all.

13 Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods: A good wind will blow them away. They're smoke, nothing but smoke. "But anyone who runs to me for help will inherit the land, will end up owning my holy mountain!"

14 Someone says: "Build, build! Make a road! Clear the way, remove the rocks from the road my people will travel."

15 A Message from the high and towering God, who lives in Eternity, whose name is Holy: "I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, And what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again.

16 For I'm not going to haul people into court endlessly, I'm not going to be angry forever. Otherwise, people would lose heart. These souls I created would tire out and give up.

17 I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel's sins. I struck him hard and turned away in anger, while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.

18 When I looked again and saw what he was doing, I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him, creating a new language of praise for the mourners.

19 Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand," says God - "and yes, I will heal them.

20 But the wicked are storm-battered seas that can't quiet down. The waves stir up garbage and mud.

21 There's no peace," God says, "for the wicked.