Logos Bible Study

Isaiah 65:1–9

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The Lord Will Distinguish Between Sinners and the Godly

65:1“I made myself available to those who did not ask for me;1

I appeared to those who did not look for me.2

I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’

to a nation that did not invoke3 my name.

65:2I spread out my hands all day long

to my rebellious people,

who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,

and who did what they desired.4

65:3These people continually and blatantly offend me5

as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards6

and burn incense on brick altars.7

65:4They sit among the tombs8

and keep watch all night long.9

They eat pork,10

and broth11 from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

65:5They say, ‘Keep to yourself!

Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’

These people are like smoke in my nostrils,

like a fire that keeps burning all day long.

65:6Look, I have decreed:12

I will not keep silent, but will pay them back;

I will pay them back exactly what they deserve,13

65:7for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,”14 says the Lord.

“Because they burned incense on the mountains

and offended15 me on the hills,

I will punish them in full measure.”16

65:8This is what the Lord says:

“When17 juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,

someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’18

So I will do for the sake of my servants—

I will not destroy everyone.19

65:9I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.

My chosen ones will take possession of the land;20

my servants will live there.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Heb “I allowed myself to be sought by those who did not ask.”
  2. 2 Heb “I allowed myself to be found by those who did not seek.”
  3. 3 Heb “call out in”; , , “call on.”
  4. 4 Heb “who walked [in] the way that is not good, after their thoughts.”
  5. 5 Heb “the people who provoke me to anger to my face continually.”
  6. 6 Or “gardens” (, , , , ).
  7. 7 Or perhaps, “on tiles.”
  8. 8 Perhaps the worship of underworld deities or dead spirits is in view.
  9. 9 The Hebrew text reads literally, “and in the watches they spend the night.” Some understand נְּצוּרִים (nétsurim) as referring to “secret places” or “caves,” while others emend the text to וּבֵין צוּרִים (uven tsurim, “between the rocky cliffs”).
  10. 10 Heb “the flesh of the pig”; , , “swine’s flesh.”
  11. 11 The marginal reading (Qere), supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, reads מְרַק (méraq, “broth”), while the consonantal text (Kethib) has פְרַק (feraq, “fragment”).
  12. 12 Heb “Look, it is written before me.”
  13. 13 Heb “I will pay back into their lap.”
  14. 14 Heb “the iniquities of your fathers.”
  15. 15 Or perhaps, “taunted”; “blasphemed”; “disgraced”; “scorned”; “defied”; “reviled.”
  16. 16 Heb “I will measure out their pay [from the] beginning into their lap,” i.e., he will give them everything they have earned.
  17. 17 Heb “just as.” In the Hebrew text the statement is one long sentence, “Just as …, so I will do.…”
  18. 18 Heb “for a blessing is in it.”
  19. 19 Heb “by not destroying everyone.”
  20. 20 Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to the land which contains the aforementioned mountains.

The NET Bible First Edition, Copyright 1996-2005 by Biblical Studies Press