Isaiah 65:1–9

Judgment and Final Salvation

The Lord says,

“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.

I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.

I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’

to a nation that did not call on my name.

²All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.

But they follow their own evil paths

and their own crooked schemes.

³All day long they insult me to my face

by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens.

They burn incense on pagan altars.

⁴At night they go out among the graves,

worshiping the dead.

They eat the flesh of pigs

and make stews with other forbidden foods.

⁵Yet they say to each other,

‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!

I am holier than you!’

These people are a stench in my nostrils,

an acrid smell that never goes away.

⁶“Look, my decree is written out in front of me:

I will not stand silent;

I will repay them in full!

Yes, I will repay them—

⁷both for their own sins

and for those of their ancestors,”

says the Lord.

“For they also burned incense on the mountains

and insulted me on the hills.

I will pay them back in full!

⁸“But I will not destroy them all,”

says the Lord.

“For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones

(and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—

some of those grapes are good!’),

so I will not destroy all Israel.

For I still have true servants there.

⁹I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel

and of Judah to possess my land.

Those I choose will inherit it,

and my servants will live there.