56:1 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 –

56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;

I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. ¹³ 

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,

for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.” ¹⁴ 

56:8 The sovereign Lord says this,

the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:

“I will still gather them up.” ¹⁵