Isaiah 57

1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil. Merciful men are taken away, 2They rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness. He enters into peace. 3* of adulterers and prostitutes. “But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress, 4Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? * of falsehood, Whom do you mock? Aren’t you children of disobedience, 5under every green tree; under the clefts of the rocks? you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, who kill the children in the valleys, 6they, they are your lot. You have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things? Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; You have even poured a drink offering to them. 7You also went up there to offer sacrifice. On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. 8for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me, and have gone up; and made you a covenant with them. You loved what you saw on their bed. You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts; you have enlarged your bed, 9and increased your perfumes, * You went to the king with oil, and sent your ambassadors far off, 10yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ therefore you weren’t faint. You were wearied with the length of your ways; You found a reviving of your strength; 11so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? and you don’t fear me? “Whom have you dreaded and feared, Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, 12and as for your works, they will not benefit you. I will declare your righteousness; 13let those whom you have gathered deliver you; a breath will carry them all away: and will inherit my holy mountain.” When you cry, but the wind will take them. but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, 14Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.” He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! 15whose name is Holy: to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, 16for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made. For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; 17I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness, and struck him; 18I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: 19Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.” I create the fruit of the lips: 20for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and mud. But the wicked are like the troubled sea; 21“for the wicked.” “There is no peace”, says my God,