A Place at the Father's Table
56 1 This is what our Father says: Keep justice and do what is right, for my salvation is coming soon, and my righteousness is about to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the one who does this, the person who holds firmly to it: who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it, and keeps from doing any evil.
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to our Father say, "Our Father will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "I am only a dry tree." a a v3 A 'dry tree' pictures someone with no children—and therefore no one to carry on their name after death.
4 For this is what our Father says: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant, 5 to them I will give within my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. b b v5 To those who could not have biological children, our Father promises something better than sons and daughters: a place in his house and a name that will never be cut off. Family identity is given by our Father, not earned by lineage. 6 And the foreigners who join themselves to our Father, to minister to him, to love the name of our Father, and to be his servants—everyone who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and holds fast to my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. c c v7 Our Father's house was always meant to welcome every people, not one nation only — and Jesus claimed this very promise when he cleared the temple courts (Matthew 21:13).
8 This is the declaration of the Sovereign Father, who gathers the outcasts of Israel: I will gather still others to him, besides those already gathered.
Watchmen Who Will Not See
9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour—all you beasts in the forest. 10 Israel's watchmen are blind, all of them; they know nothing. They are all silent dogs that cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to sleep. 11 The dogs have a fierce appetite; they never have enough. They are shepherds with no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, every one of them. 12 "Come," they say, "let me fetch wine; let us drink our fill of strong drink. And tomorrow will be like today, great beyond all measure."