Go to Related Reading
About this book

Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 55

1 “Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost.⁠ 2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food.⁠ 3 Pay attention and come to me. Listen, so you can live. Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. 4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, a ruler and commander of nations.” 5 Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you. 6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby!⁠ 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. 8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds,” says the Lord, 9 “for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans. 10 The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat. 11 In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” 12 Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands. 13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes; firs will grow in place of nettles; they will be a monument to the Lord, a permanent reminder that will remain.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 55:6 and Gospel of Thomas 59

Hebrew Bible · Nag Hammadi

Share:

Summary

In Isaiah, the prophet tells Israel to seek God while he can still be found. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus sets the deadline at death, urging people to look on the Living One while alive, since after death they will seek him and fail to see him.

Passages

Isaiah 55:6

Hebrew Bible
5 Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you. 6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Gospel of Thomas 59

Nag Hammadi
58 Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who has suffered; he has found life.” 59 Jesus said, “Look upon the Living One while you are alive, so that you do not die and then seek to see him, and you will not be able to see.” 60 They saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea. He said to his disciples, “Why is that man carrying the lamb?” They said to him, “So that he may kill it and eat it.” He said to them, “While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse.” They said, “Otherwise he cannot do it.” He said to them, “So also with you: seek for yourselves a place of rest, lest you become a corpse and be eaten.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... The predominant theme in this saying is the urgency of seeking salvation (cf. Isa. 55.6: ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near’). The viewpoint here is that one’s earthly life is the opportunity to seek knowledge and true life, an opportunity which will have passed after death. [...] While you are alive. Cf. GTh 38.2: ‘Days are coming when you will seek after me but will not find me.’ The theme of eschatological urgency, which Jeremias identified as central to Jesus’ teaching, is developed in these sayings in the direction of making the life-time of the hearer the time available to see the divine. Lest you die and you seek to see him, but are not able to see. The reference here may be to a postmortem consciousness of the missed opportunity; such an idea has a number of parallels. ...”
Simon Gathercole, The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 436–437.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Isaiah 55:6 and Gospel of Thomas 59

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library