Isaiah 65:13–25

¹³Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“My servants will eat,

but you will starve.

My servants will drink,

but you will be thirsty.

My servants will rejoice,

but you will be sad and ashamed.

¹⁴My servants will sing for joy,

but you will cry in sorrow and despair.

¹⁵Your name will be a curse word among my people,

for the Sovereign Lord will destroy you

and will call his true servants by another name.

¹⁶All who invoke a blessing or take an oath

will do so by the God of truth.

For I will put aside my anger

and forget the evil of earlier days.

¹⁷“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,

and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

¹⁸Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!

And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.

Her people will be a source of joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice over Jerusalem

and delight in my people.

And the sound of weeping and crying

will be heard in it no more.

²⁰“No longer will babies die when only a few days old.

No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.

No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!

Only the cursed will die that young!

²¹In those days people will live in the houses they build

and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.

²²Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses

and confiscate their vineyards.

For my people will live as long as trees,

and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

²³They will not work in vain,

and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.

For they are people blessed by the Lord,

and their children, too, will be blessed.

²⁴I will answer them before they even call to me.

While they are still talking about their needs,

I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together.

The lion will eat hay like a cow.

But the snakes will eat dust.

In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”