Chapter 25

Song of Praise for God’s Favor

1 O Lord, You are amy God;

I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;

For You have bworked wonders,

cPlans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For You have made a city into a aheap,

A bfortified city into a ruin;

A cpalace of strangers is a city no more,

It will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore a strong people will aglorify You;

bCities of ruthless nations will revere You.

4 For You have been a adefense for the helpless,

A defense for the needy in his distress,

A brefuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;

For the breath of the cruthless

Is like a rain storm against a wall.

5 Like heat in drought, You subdue the auproar of aliens;

Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is 1silenced.

6 aThe Lord of hosts will prepare a 1lavish banquet for ball peoples on this mountain;

A banquet of 2aged wine, 3choice pieces with marrow,

And 4refined, aged wine.

7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the 1acovering which is over all peoples,

Even the veil which is 2stretched over all nations.

8 He will aswallow up death for all time,

And the Lord 1God will bwipe tears away from all faces,

And He will remove the creproach of His people from all the earth;

For the Lord has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day,

“Behold, athis is our God for whom we have bwaited that cHe might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited;

dLet us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,

And aMoab will be trodden down in his place

As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.

11 And he will aspread out his hands in the middle of it

As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,

But the Lord will blay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.

12 The aunassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,

Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

Chapter 65

A Rebellious People

1 “I permitted Myself to be sought by athose who did not ask for Me;

I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.

I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’

To a nation which bdid not call on My name.

2 “aI have spread out My hands all day long to a brebellious people,

Who walk in the way which is not good, 1following their own cthoughts,

3 A people who continually aprovoke Me to My face,

Offering sacrifices in bgardens and cburning incense on bricks;

4 Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places;

Who aeat swine’s flesh,

And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots.

5 “Who say, ‘aKeep to yourself, do not come near me,

For I am holier than you!’

These are smoke in My 1nostrils,

A fire that burns all the day.

6 “Behold, it is written before Me,

I will anot keep silent, but bI will repay;

I will even repay into their bosom,

7 Both 1their own ainiquities and the iniquities of their fathers together,” says the Lord.

“Because they have bburned incense on the mountains

And cscorned Me on the hills,

Therefore I will dmeasure their former work into their bosom.”

8 Thus says the Lord,

“As the new wine is found in the cluster,

And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is 1benefit in it,’

So I will act on behalf of My servants

In order anot to destroy 2all of them.

9 “I will bring forth aoffspring from Jacob,

And an bheir of My mountains from Judah;

Even cMy chosen ones shall inherit it,

And dMy servants will dwell there.

10 “aSharon will be a pasture land for flocks,

And the bvalley of Achor a resting place for herds,

For My people who cseek Me.

11 “But you who aforsake the Lord,

Who forget My bholy mountain,

Who set a table for 1Fortune,

And who fill cups with mixed wine for 2Destiny,

12 I will destine you for the asword,

And all of you will bow down to the bslaughter.

Because I called, but you cdid not answer;

I spoke, but you did not hear.

And you did evil in My sight

And chose that in which I did not delight.”

13 Therefore, thus says the Lord 1God,

“Behold, My servants will aeat, but you will be bhungry.

Behold, My servants will cdrink, but you will be dthirsty.

Behold, My servants will erejoice, but you will be fput to shame.

14 “Behold, My servants will ashout joyfully with a glad heart,

But you will bcry out with a 1heavy heart,

And you will wail with a broken spirit.

15 “You will leave your name for a acurse to My chosen ones,

And the Lord 1God will slay you.

But 2My servants will be called by banother name.

16 “Because he who 1is blessed in the earth

Will 1be blessed by the aGod of truth;

And he who swears in the earth

Will bswear by the God of truth;

Because the former troubles are forgotten,

And because they are hidden from My sight!

New Heavens and a New Earth

17 “For behold, I create anew heavens and a new earth;

And the bformer things will not be remembered or come to 1mind.

18 “But be aglad and rejoice forever in what I create;

For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing

And her people for gladness.

19 “I will also arejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;

And there will no longer be heard in her

The voice of bweeping and the sound of crying.

20 “No longer will there be 1in it an infant who lives but a few days,

Or an old man who does anot 2live out his days;

For the youth will die at the age of one hundred

And the 3bone who does not reach the age of one hundred

Will be thought accursed.

21 “They will abuild houses and inhabit them;

They will also bplant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 “They will not build and aanother inhabit,

They will not plant and another eat;

For bas the 1lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,

And My chosen ones will cwear out the work of their hands.

23 “They will anot labor in vain,

Or bear children for calamity;

For they are the 1boffspring of those blessed by the Lord,

And their descendants with them.

24 “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will aanswer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

25 “The awolf and the lamb will graze together, and the blion will eat straw like the ox; and cdust will be the serpent’s food. They will ddo no evil or harm in all My eholy mountain,” says the Lord.

Chapter 66

Heaven Is God’s Throne

1 Thus says the Lord,

“aHeaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.

Where then is a bhouse you could build for Me?

And where is a place that 1I may rest?

2 “For aMy hand made all these things,

Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.

“But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and bcontrite of spirit, and who ctrembles at My word.

Hypocrisy Rebuked

3 “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man;

He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck;

He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers aswine’s blood;

He who 1bburns incense is like the one who blesses an idol.

As they have chosen their cown ways,

And their soul delights in their dabominations,

4 So I will achoose their 1punishments

And will bbring on them what they dread.

…