57
1 The tzaddik perisheth,
and no ish layeth it to lev;
and anshei chesed are taken away,
none considering that the tzaddik is taken away
from the ra'ah (evil, calamity) to come.
2 He shall enter into shalom;
they shall rest in their mishkevot (couches, i.e., tombs),
each one walking in his nekhochah (uprightness, integrity, honesty).
3 But draw near to here,
ye bnei onenah (you children of a sorceress),
zera mena'ef (offspring of an adulterer) and she who plays the zonah.
4 At whom are you sneering?
Against whom make ye a wide mouth,
and draw out the leshon?
Are ye not yeledim of peysha (rebellion),
zera sheker?
5 Enflaming yourselves among* elim (oaks, big trees)
under every spreading tree,
slaughtering the yeladim in the valleys
under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the wadi is thy chelek;
they are thy goral;
even to them† hast thou poured nesekh,
thou hast offered minchah.
For these [provocations], should I relent?
7 Upon a lofty and high har
hast thou set up thy mishkav (bed i.e., fertility rites);
there wentest thou up to offer zevach.
8 Behind the delet also and the mezuzah (doorpost)
hast thou set up thy zikron ([pornographic and idolatrous] memorial);
deserting Me, thou hast uncovered thyself, and art gone up;
thou hast enlarged thy mishkav (bed)
and cut‡ for thee with them [a Brit];
thou lovedst their mishkav (bed)
where thou hast looked on their yad.§
9 And thou wentest to Melech;*
with shemen thou didst increase thy perfumes,
and didst send thy† envoys far,
even down unto Sheol.
10 Thou art wearied in the length of thy derech;
yet saidst thou not: It is hopeless;
thou hast found the chayyat yad (life of hand, power) of thine;
therefore thou wast not faint.
11 And of whom hast thou dreaded or feared,
that thou hast lived a lie,
and hast not remembered Me,
nor laid it to thy lev (i.e., pondered it)?
Have not I held My peace me'olam (even from of old),
and thou fearest Me not?
12 I will preach thy tzedakah,
and thy ma'asim, that they shall not profit thee.
13 When thou criest for help, let thy‡ kibutzim (heaps, collections) save thee;
but the ruach shall carry them all away;
hevel shall take them;
but he that putteth his trust in Me shall inherit eretz,
and shall inherit My Har Kodesh;
14 And shall say:
Build ye [a road], build ye [a road], prepare the Derech,
remove the michshol (stumblingblock, obstacle)
from the Derech Ami (the Way, Road of My People).
15 For thus saith the High and Exalted,
Shokhen Ad (the One Who abideth forever, i.e., Who inhabits eternity), Kadosh Shmo:
I dwell in marom v'kadosh (the high and holy place),
with him also that is of a contrite and lowly ruach,
to revive the ruach of the shefalim (humble, lowly ones)
and to revive the lev nidka'im (contrite of heart).
16 For I will not contend l'olam (forever),
neither will I lanetzach (always) be in wrath;
for the ruach (spirit) would grow faint before Me,
even the neshamot (souls) which I have made.
17 For the avon (iniquity) of his covetousness
was I in wrath, and struck him;§
I hid, and was in wrath,
and he* went on shovav (backsliding)
in the derech of his lev (heart).
18 I have seen the drakhim of him,†
and will heal him; I will lead him also,
and restore nichumim (comforts)
unto him and to his avelim (mourners).
19 I create the [repentant] fruit of the lips;
Shalom, shalom to him that is far off,
and to him that is near, saith Hashem;
and I will heal him.
20 But the resha'im are like the troubled yam (sea),
when it cannot sheket (be quiet),
whose mayim cast up mire and mud.
21 There is no shalom, saith Elohai,
for the resha'im.‡
* 57:5 cult prostitution and Ba'al sympathetic magic in worshipping fertility † 57:6 the stone idols; see Jer 3:9 ‡ 57:8 a Brit § 57:8 i.e., phallus * 57:9 i.e., the pagan g-d Molech, the deity of sacrificed offspring and abortions † 57:9 political ‡ 57:13 idol § 57:17 the wicked * 57:17 the wicked † 57:18 the wicked ‡ 57:21 T.N. For deliverance ministry fasting is a key weapon, one that is needed in spiritual warfare in the last days as we see people getting demonized and needing deliverance.