Isaiah 65–66

THE LORD’S RESPONSE

65“I was sought by those who did not ask;

I was found by those who did not seek me.

I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’

to a nation that did not call on^B my name.^b

²I spread out my hands all day long

to a rebellious people^c

who walk in the path that is not good,

following their own thoughts.

³These people continually anger me

to my face,

sacrificing in gardens,^d

burning incense on bricks,

⁴sitting among the graves,

spending nights in secret places,

eating the meat of pigs,^e

and putting polluted broth in their bowls.^C

⁵They say, ‘Keep to yourself,

don’t come near me, for I am too holy for you!’

These practices are smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all day long.

⁶Look, it is written in front of me:

I will not keep silent,^f but I will repay;^g

I will repay them fully^D

⁷for your iniquities and the iniquities^h

of your^E ancestors together,”

says the Lord.

“Because they burned incense on the mountains

and reproached me on the hills,ⁱ

I will reward them fully^F

for their former deeds.”

⁸The Lord says this:

“As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,

and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it,

for there’s some good^G in it,’

so I will act because of my servants

and not destroy them all.

⁹I will produce descendants from Jacob,^j

and heirs to my mountains from Judah;

my chosen^k ones will possess it,

and my servants will dwell there.^l

¹⁰Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,^m

and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,ⁿ

for my people who have sought me.^o

¹¹But you who abandon the Lord,

who forget my holy mountain,

who prepare a table for Fortune

and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,^A

¹²I will destine you for the sword,

and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,

because I called and you did not answer,

I spoke and you did not hear;

you did what was evil in my sight

and chose what I did not delight in.”^p

¹³Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:

“Look! My servants will eat,

but you will be hungry.

Look! My servants will drink,

but you will be thirsty.

Look! My servants will rejoice,

but you will be put to shame.

¹⁴Look! My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,

but you will cry out from an anguished heart,

and you will lament out of a broken spirit.

¹⁵You will leave your name behind

as a curse for my chosen ones,^q

and the Lord God will kill you;

but he will give his servants another name.^r

¹⁶Whoever asks for a blessing in the land

will ask for a blessing by the God of truth,^s

and whoever swears in the land

will swear by the God of truth.

For the former troubles will be forgotten

and hidden from my sight.

A NEW CREATION

¹⁷“For I will create new heavens and a new earth;^t

the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.

¹⁸Then be glad and rejoice forever

in what I am creating;

for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy

and its people to be a delight.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people.

The sound of weeping and crying

will no longer be heard in her.^a

²⁰In her, a nursing infant will no longer live

only a few days,^B

or an old man not live out his days.

Indeed, the one who dies at a hundred years old will be mourned as a young man,^C

and the one who misses a hundred years will be considered cursed.^b

²¹People will build houses and live in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.^c

²²They will not build and others live in them;

they will not plant and others eat.

For my people’s lives will be

like the lifetime of a tree.^d

My chosen ones will fully enjoy

the work of their hands.

²³They will not labor without success^e

or bear children destined for disaster,

for they will be a people blessed by the Lord

along with their descendants.^f

²⁴Even before they call, I will answer;^g

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together,^A

and the lion will eat straw like cattle,^h

but the serpent’s food will be dust!ⁱ

They will not do what is evil or destroy

on my entire holy mountain,”^j

says the Lord.

FINAL JUDGMENT AND JOYOUS RESTORATION

66This is what the Lord says:

Heaven^k is my throne,^l

and earth is my footstool.^m

Where could you possibly build a house for me?

And where would my resting place be?ⁿ

²My hand made all these things,

and so they all came into being.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I will look favorably on this kind of person:

one who is humble,^o submissive^B in spirit,^p

and trembles at my word.

³One person slaughters an ox, another kills a person;

one person sacrifices a lamb, another breaks a dog’s neck;

one person offers a grain offering, another offers pig’s blood;

one person offers incense, another praises an idol—

all these have chosen their ways

and delight in their abhorrent practices.^q

⁴So I will choose their punishment,

and I will bring on them what they dread

because I called and no one answered;

I spoke and they did not listen;

they did what was evil in my sight

and chose what I did not delight in.^r

⁵You who tremble at his word,^s

hear the word of the Lord:^t

“Your brothers who hate and exclude you

for my name’s sake have said,^u

‘Let the Lord be glorified

so that we can see your joy!’

But they will be put to shame.”^v

⁶A sound of uproar from the city!

A voice from the temple—

the voice of the Lord,

paying back his enemies what they deserve!^w

⁷Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth;

before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.

⁸Who has heard of such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Can a land be born in one day

or a nation be delivered in an instant?

Yet as soon as Zion was in labor,

she gave birth to her sons.

⁹“Will I bring a baby to the point of birth

and not deliver it?”

says the Lord;

“or will I who deliver, close the womb?”

says your God.

¹⁰Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,

all who love her.^a

Rejoice greatly with her,

all who mourn over her—

¹¹so that you may nurse and be satisfied

from her comforting breast

and drink deeply and delight yourselves

from her glorious breasts.

¹²For this is what the Lord says:

I will make peace flow to her like a river,^b

and the wealth^A of nations like a flood;^c

you will nurse and be carried on her hip^d

and bounced on her lap.

¹³As a mother comforts her son,

so I will comfort you,^e

and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴You will see, you will rejoice,

and you^B will flourish like grass;^f

then the Lord’s power will be revealed to his servants,

but he will show his wrath against his enemies.

¹⁵Look, the Lord will come with fire^g—

his chariots are like the whirlwind^h—

to execute his anger with fury

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For the Lord will execute judgment

on all humanityⁱ with his fiery sword,

and many will be slain by the Lord.

¹⁷“Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves^j following their leader,^C eating meat from pigs, vermin,^D and rats, will perish together.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁸“Knowing^E their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages;^k they will come and see my glory. ¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put,^A Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan,^l and the coasts and islands far away—who have not heard about me or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations.^{m 20}They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,”ⁿ says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,”^o says the Lord.

²²“For just as the new heavens and the new earth,^p

which I will make,

will remain before me”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“so your offspring and your name will remain.

²³All humanity will come to worship me

from one New Moon to another

and from one Sabbath to another,”

says the Lord.

²⁴“As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me;^q for their worm^r will never die, their fire will never go out,^s and they will be a horror to all humanity.”^t