Bible / Isaias
Isaias 55
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without money, and without any price.
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness.
3 Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David.
4 Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the Gentiles.
5 Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.
12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall sing praise before you, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle, shall come up the myrtle tree: and the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, that shall not be taken away.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.
- Isaias 55:3 in modern BiblesCCC 762
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 762 “The remote preparation for this gathering together of the People of God begins when he calls Abraham and promises that he will…”
“Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people: nations which know not Thee shall call on Thee; peoples who know not Thee shall escape to Thee, because of thy God, the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified Thee.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter XII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“And the Lord shall be for a name, and for an everlasting sign, and He shall not fail!”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter XIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.