A House of Prayer for All Peoples
1 Yahweh says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 3 Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, 5 I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. 6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, 7 I will bring these 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.” 8 The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, in addition to his own who are gathered.” 9 All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. 12 “Come,” they say, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
The two groups the law kept out are given a name inside the house, and the watchmen are asleep.
Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
The last section of the book opens with two marks of the person God accepts, and one of them is the Sabbath. It recurs three times in this chapter and again at the end of the book Isaiah 66:23, which is where the collection's argument about the day finally lands: it is the sign attached to the people being described, and it is offered to outsiders on the same terms.
Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
Two groups, and both had a real grievance. The law excluded eunuchs from the assembly Deuteronomy 23:1 and restricted foreigners, and both quoted objections are accurate summaries of their position. The eunuch's is the sadder: a dry tree is one that will not fruit, and his line ends with him.
4 For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, 5 I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
The answer is precisely fitted to the complaint. A man with no children gets a name inside the house — and the phrase will not be cut off is chosen deliberately for a man who has been.
6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, 7 I will bring these 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.”
Jesus quotes this line when he clears the temple, and the part he quotes is the last clause — including for all peoples, which the trading was taking place in the court reserved for them Mark 11:17.
The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, in addition to his own who are gathered.”
John's Gospel echoes it: I have other sheep which are not of this fold John 10:16.
His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
The chapter turns without warning to the leadership, and the image is a guard dog that does not bark. Its whole function is one noise, and it is asleep.
Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.
The phrase turned to his own way is the fifty-third chapter's description of the straying sheep Isaiah 53:6, applied here to the shepherds.
settled What this mark means