Isaiah 65:1–9

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.’

²All day long I have held out my hands

to an obstinate people,^k

who walk in ways not good,

pursuing their own imaginations^l—

³a people who continually provoke me

to my very face,^m

offering sacrifices in gardensⁿ

and burning incense^o on altars of brick;

⁴who sit among the graves^p

and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;

who eat the flesh of pigs,^q

and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;

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

for I am too sacred^r for you!’

Such people are smoke^s in my nostrils,

a fire that keeps burning all day.

⁶“See, it stands written before me:

I will not keep silent^t but will pay back^u in full;

I will pay it back into their laps^v—

⁷both your sins^w 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 payment^z for their former deeds.”

⁸This is what the Lord says:

“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes^a

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.

⁹I will bring forth descendants^c from Jacob,

and from Judah those who will possess^d my mountains;

my chosen^e people will inherit them,

and there will my servants live.^f