Isaiah 65:1–10

Judgment and Salvation

65 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;

I was found by those who did not seek me.h

To a nationi that did not call on my name,j

I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’

2 All day long I have held out my hands

to an obstinate people,k

who walk in ways not good,

pursuing their own imaginationsl—

3 a people who continually provoke me

to my very face,m

offering sacrifices in gardensn

and burning incenseo on altars of brick;

4 who sit among the gravesp

and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;

who eat the flesh of pigs,q

and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;

5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,

for I am too sacredr for you!’

Such people are smokes in my nostrils,

a fire that keeps burning all day.

6 “See, it stands written before me:

I will not keep silentt but will pay backu in full;

I will pay it back into their lapsv—

7 both your sinsw and the sins of your ancestors,”x

says the Lord.

“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains

and defied me on the hills,y

I will measure into their laps

the full paymentz for their former deeds.”

8 This is what the Lord says:

“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapesa

and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,

there is still a blessing in it,’

so will I do in behalf of my servants;b

I will not destroy them all.

9 I will bring forth descendantsc from Jacob,

and from Judah those who will possessd my mountains;

my chosene people will inherit them,

and there will my servants live.f

10 Sharong will become a pasture for flocks,h

and the Valley of Achori a resting place for herds,

for my people who seekj me.