Isaiah 55

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 700 BC – 538 BC · Exile in Babylon · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

13 verses · 362 words · ~2 min read · ~2 min listen

Invitation to the Needy

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.

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 own way

and the unrighteous man his own 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 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.”

Footnotes (2)

a v3 Cited in Acts 13:34
b v13 Or pine or juniper or fir

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Prophecy & fulfillmentLinked by the New Testament

The holy and sure blessings of David

In Pisidian Antioch Paul links Isaiah's promise of the sure mercies promised to David with Psalm 16's 'you will not let your Holy One see decay', arguing that David himself died and decayed, so the promises are fulfilled in the one God raised.

When: Isaiah, c. 700–540 BC; Paul's sermon, c. AD 46–48.

Original passageIsaiah 55:3Psalms 16:10

Where the New Testament applies itActs 13:32–37

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentDebated

Rivers of living water

At the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus cries out that whoever believes in him will have rivers of living water flowing from within, 'as Scripture has said'. No verse says exactly this, and John explains it as the Spirit to be given after Jesus was glorified. Which passage he has in mind is disputed, as is whose heart the water flows from.

When: Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles, c. AD 29; the Feast itself recalled water from the rock and looked to the Lord's day in Zechariah 14.

Original passageEzekiel 47:1–12Zechariah 14:8Isaiah 55:1Isaiah 58:11

Echoed inJohn 7:37–39

Ways people read this (4)

Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Zechariah 14:8: the river flowing from the temple.
Isaiah 55:1 and 58:11: the thirsty invited to water, and a well-watered garden.
Water from the rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6; Psalm 78:16), which Paul also links to Christ.
The punctuation and grammar can be read so the water flows from Jesus himself or from the believer; manuscripts and translations differ.