Isaiah 55:6 (ASV)

Passage

Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near:

Nearby Context

Isaiah 55:4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.

Isaiah 55:5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not; and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near:

Isaiah 55:7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "seek", "jehovah", "found", "call", "upon", and "near". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "seek" and "jehovah", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "Behold thou shalt call a nation that..." into verse 7's "let the wicked forsake his way and...", so "seek" and "jehovah" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "seek" and "jehovah" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.