Passage

Isaiah 56.1

Book: Isaiah

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Thus saith Jehovah, Keep ye justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed."

"2. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that holdeth it fast; that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. 3. Neither let the foreigner, that hath joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree." (Isaiah 56:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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.”" (Isaiah 56:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. ^{judgment: or, equity}"

"2. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. 3. Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree." (Isaiah 56:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Thus said Jehovah: 'Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness, For near [is] My salvation to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.'"

"2. O the happiness of a man who doth this, And of a son of man who keepeth hold on it, Keeping the sabbath from polluting it, And keeping his hand from doing any evil. 3. Nor speak let a son of the stranger, Who is joined unto Jehovah, saying: 'Jehovah doth certainly separate me from His people.' Nor say let the eunuch, 'Lo, I am a tree dried up,'" (Isaiah 56:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH through the prophet Isaiah (Third-Isaiah / chapters 56-66, the post-return prophetic horizon)
Audience: the returned exiles in Yehud (post-538 BC); the broader covenant community including the foreigner and the eunuch
Location: Jerusalem / post-exilic Judah
Time period: prophetic horizon, late-sixth / early-fifth century BC; redactional questions debated

Theological reading

Isaiah 56:1 opens Third-Isaiah and serves as a programmatic statement for chapters 56-66. The verse pairs the ethical demand ("keep ye justice, and do righteousness") with the eschatological promise ("my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed"), two uses of [[H6666 - tzedakah|tzedaqah]] in a single verse, one human-ethical (tzedaqah as the demand to do) and one divine-eschatological (tzedaqah as the saving-act to be revealed). The verse exemplifies the OT integration of ethical and soteriological tzedaqah that Pauline theology will later distinguish but never separate. The Isaianic-vindication deployment that anchors Romans 1:17 ("the righteousness of God is revealed") draws explicitly on this verse's vocabulary: the very Greek word apokalyptetai ("is revealed") translates the Hebrew l'higgalot ("to be revealed") of Isa 56:1. The Third-Isaiah audience, explicitly inclusive of foreigners and eunuchs (vv. 3-8), anticipates the Pauline opening of the covenant to the Gentiles on the same tzedaqah-mechanism.

Key words

H6666 - tzedakah, tzedaqah (Strong's H6666). Used twice in this verse: the ethical demand and the eschatological gift.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.