Isaiah 55:1–13

¹“Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters;

and you without money,

come, buy, and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without cost!

²Why spend money on that which is not bread,

and your labor on that which does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

³Incline your ear and come to Me;

listen, so that your soul may live.

I will make with you an everlasting covenant —

My loving devotion promised to David.^a

⁴Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations,

a leader and commander of the peoples.

⁵Surely you will summon a nation you do not know,

and nations who do not know you will run to you.

For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel,

has bestowed glory on you.”

⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the LORD,

that He may have compassion,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon.

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways My ways,”

declares the LORD.

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so My ways are higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven

and do not return without watering the earth,

making it bud and sprout,

and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth

will not return to Me empty,

but it will accomplish what I please,

and it will prosper where I send it.

¹²You will indeed go out with joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thornbush, the cypress^b will grow,

and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up;

this will make a name for the LORD,

an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”