Isaiah 65-66

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Lord’s Response

65 “I was sought by those who did not ask;^[a]
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said: Here I am, here I am,
to a nation that was not called by^[b] My name.^(A)
²I spread out My hands all day long
to a rebellious people^(B)
who walk in the wrong path,
following their own thoughts.
³These people continually provoke Me
to My face,
sacrificing in gardens,^(C)
burning incense on bricks,
⁴sitting among the graves,
spending nights in secret places,
eating the meat of pigs,^(D)
and putting polluted broth in their bowls.^[c]
⁵They say, ‘Keep to yourself,
don’t come near me, for I am too holy for you!’
These practices are smoke in My nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
⁶It is written before Me:
I will not keep silent,^(E) but I will repay;^(F)
I will repay them fully^[d]
⁷for your iniquities and the iniquities^(G)
of your^[e] fathers together,”
says the Lord.
“Because they burned incense on the mountains
and reproached Me on the hills,^(H)
I will reward them fully^[f]
for their former deeds.”

⁸The Lord says this:

As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,
and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it,
for there’s some good^[g] in it,’
so I will act because of My servants
and not destroy them all.
⁹I will produce descendants from Jacob,^(I)
and heirs to My mountains from Judah;
My chosen^(J) ones will possess it,
and My servants will dwell there.^(K)
¹⁰Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,^(L)
and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down,^(M)
for My people who have sought Me.^(N)
¹¹But you who abandon the Lord,
who forget My holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,^[h]
¹²I will destine you for the sword,
and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,
because I called and you did not answer,
I spoke and you did not hear;
you did what was evil in My sight
and chose what I did not delight in.^(O)

¹³Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:

My servants will eat,
but you will be hungry;
My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty;
My servants will rejoice,
but you will be put to shame.
¹⁴My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,
but you will cry out from an anguished heart,
and you will lament out of a broken spirit.
¹⁵You will leave your name behind
as a curse for My chosen ones,^(P)
and the Lord God will kill you;
but He will give His servants another name.^(Q)
¹⁶Whoever is blessed in the land
will be blessed by the God of truth,^(R)
and whoever swears in the land
will swear by the God of truth.
For the former troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from My sight.

A New Creation

¹⁷“For I will create a new heaven and a new earth;^(S)
the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.
¹⁸Then be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight.
¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in My people.
The sound of weeping and crying
will no longer be heard in her.^(T)
²⁰In her, a nursing infant will no longer live
only a few days,^[i]
or an old man not live out his days.
Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years,
and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed.^(U)
²¹People will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.^(V)
²²They will not build and others live in them;
they will not plant and others eat.
For My people’s lives will be
like the lifetime of a tree.^(W)
My chosen ones will fully enjoy
the work of their hands.
²³They will not labor without success^(X)
or bear children destined for disaster,
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord
along with their descendants.^(Y)
²⁴Even before they call, I will answer;^(Z)
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together,^[j]
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,^(AA)
but the serpent’s food will be dust!^(AB)
They will not do what is evil or destroy
on My entire holy mountain,”^(AC)
says the Lord.

Final Judgment and Joyous Restoration

66 This is what the Lord says:

Heaven^(AD) is My throne,^(AE)
and earth is My footstool.^(AF)
What house could you possibly build for Me?
And what place could be My home?^(AG)
²My hand made all these things,
and so they all came into being.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will look favorably on this kind of person:
one who is humble,^(AH) submissive^[k] in spirit,^(AI)
and trembles at My word.
³One slaughters an ox, one kills a man;
one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog’s neck;
one offers a grain offering, one offers pig’s blood;
one offers incense, one praises an idol—
all these have chosen their ways
and delight in their detestable practices.^(AJ)
⁴So I will choose their punishment,
and I will bring on them what they dread
because I called and no one answered;
I spoke and they didn’t hear;
they did what was evil in My sight
and chose what I didn’t delight in.^(AK)

⁵You who tremble at His word,^(AL)
hear the word of the Lord:^(AM)
“Your brothers who hate and exclude you
because of Me have said,^(AN)
‘Let the Lord be glorified
so that we can see your joy!’
But they will be put to shame.”^(AO)

⁶A sound of uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple—
the voice of the Lord,
paying back His enemies what they deserve!^(AP)

⁷Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth;
before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
⁸Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Can a land be born in one day
or a nation be delivered in an instant?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor,
she gave birth to her sons.
⁹“Will I bring a baby to the point of birth
and not deliver it?”
says the Lord;
“or will I who deliver, close the womb?”
says your God.
¹⁰Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,
all who love her.^(AQ)
Rejoice greatly with her,
all who mourn over her—
¹¹so that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her comforting breast
and drink deeply and delight yourselves
from her glorious breasts.

¹²For this is what the Lord says:

I will make peace flow to her like a river,^(AR)
and the wealth^[l] of nations like a flood;^(AS)
you will nurse and be carried on her hip^(AT)
and bounced on her lap.
¹³As a mother comforts her son,
so I will comfort you,^(AU)
and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴You will see, you will rejoice,
and you^[m] will flourish like grass;^(AV)
then the Lord’s power will be revealed to His servants,
but He will show His wrath against His enemies.
¹⁵Look, the Lord will come with fire^(AW)—
His chariots are like the whirlwind^(AX)—
to execute His anger with fury
and His rebuke with flames of fire.
¹⁶For the Lord will execute judgment
on all flesh^(AY) with His fiery sword,
and many will be slain by the Lord.

¹⁷“Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves^(AZ) following their leader,^[n] eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁸“Knowing^[o] their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages;^(BA) they will come and see My glory. ¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put,^[p] Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan,^(BB) and the islands far away—who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. And they will proclaim My glory among the nations.^(BC) ²⁰They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,”^(BD) says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,”^(BE) says the Lord.

²²“For just as the new heavens and the new earth,^(BF)
which I will make,
will endure before Me”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“so your offspring and your name will endure.
²³All mankind will come to worship Me
from one New Moon to another
and from one Sabbath to another,”
says the Lord.

²⁴“As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me;^(BG) for their worm^(BH) will never die, their fire will never go out,^(BI) and they will be a horror to all mankind.”^(BJ)