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[a]Them I will bring to my holy mountain
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be acceptable on my altar,
For my house shall be called
    a house of prayer for all peoples.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 56:7 This verse continues the theme of universalism found in Is 49:6. As Israel was to be “a light to the nations” so that God’s “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,” so now does that come to pass as foreigners, faithful to the divine commands, are brought to the Temple by God and joined to the covenant community of Israel.

26 A report reached the king of Assyria: “The nations you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the proper worship of the god of the land, so he has sent lions among them that are killing them, since they do not know the law of the god of the land.” 27 The king of Assyria gave the order, “Send back some of the priests you deported, to go there and settle, to teach them the proper worship of the god of the land.” 28 So one of the priests who had been deported from Samaria returned and settled in Bethel, and began to teach them how to venerate the Lord.

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Yes, a day will come when the watchmen
    call out on Mount Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord, our God.”(A)

The Road of Return

    For thus says the Lord:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
    exult at the head of the nations;
    proclaim your praise and say:
The Lord has saved his people,
    the remnant of Israel.(B)
Look! I will bring them back
    from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the earth,
    the blind and the lame in their midst,
Pregnant women, together with those in labor—
    an immense throng—they shall return.(C)
With weeping they shall come,
    but with compassion I will guide them;
I will lead them to streams of water,
    on a level road, without stumbling.
For I am a father to Israel,
    Ephraim is my firstborn.(D)
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you nations,
    proclaim it on distant coasts, and say:
The One who scattered Israel, now gathers them;
    he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
11 The Lord shall ransom Jacob,
    he shall redeem him from a hand too strong for him.(E)
12 Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
    they shall come streaming to the Lord’s blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
    flocks of sheep and cattle;
They themselves shall be like watered gardens,
    never again neglected.(F)
13 Then young women shall make merry and dance,
    young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
    I will show them compassion and have them rejoice after their sorrows.
14 I will lavish choice portions on the priests,
    and my people shall be filled with my blessings—
    oracle of the Lord.

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20 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

There will yet come peoples and inhabitants of many cities;(A) 21 and the inhabitants of one city will approach those of another, and say, “Come! let us go to implore the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. I too am going.” 22 Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to implore the favor of the Lord.

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

In those days ten people from nations of every language will take hold,(B) yes, will take hold of the cloak of every Judahite and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

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