Discovery BoxIsaiah 56:1-6 
Context56:1 This is what the Lord says,
“Promote 1 justice! Do what is right!
For I am ready to deliver you;
I am ready to vindicate you openly. 2
56:2 The people who do this will be blessed, 3
the people who commit themselves to obedience, 4
who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,
who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. 5
56:3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of 6 the Lord should say,
‘The Lord will certainly 7 exclude me from his people.’
The eunuch should not say,
‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”
56:4 For this is what the Lord says:
“For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths
and choose what pleases me
and are faithful to 8 my covenant,
56:5 I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument 9
that will be better than sons and daughters.
I will set up a permanent monument 10 for them that will remain.
56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of 11 the Lord and serve him,
who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants –
all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,
and who are faithful to 12 my covenant –
1 tn Heb “guard”; KJV “Keep”; NAB “Observe”; NASB “Preserve”; NIV, NRSV “Maintain.”
2 tn Heb “for near is my deliverance to enter, and my vindication [or “righteousness”] to be revealed.”
3 tn Heb “blessed is the man who does this.”
4 tn Heb “the son of mankind who takes hold of it.”
5 tn Heb and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
6 tn Heb “who attaches himself to.”
7 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
8 tn Heb “and take hold of” (so KJV); NASB “hold fast.”
9 tn Heb “a hand and a name.” For other examples where יָד (yad) refers to a monument, see HALOT 388 s.v.
10 tn Heb “name” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
11 tn Heb “who attach themselves to.”
12 tn Heb “and take hold of”; NAB “hold to”; NIV, NRSV “hold fast.”
