Isaiah 65

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

65 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
    to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that did not call on my name.^(A)
2 I held out my hands all day long
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;^(B)
3 a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
    and offering incense on bricks;^(C)
4 who sit inside tombs
    and spend the night in secret places;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
    with broth of abominable things in their vessels;^(D)
5 who say, “Keep to yourself;
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all day long.^(E)
6 See, it is written before me:
    I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their laps^(F)
7     their^[a] iniquities and their^[b] ancestors’ iniquities together,
            says the Lord;
because they offered incense on the mountains
    and reviled me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
    full payment for their actions.^(G)
8 Thus says the Lord:
As the wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, “Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,”
so I will do for my servants’ sake
    and not destroy them all.
⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Jacob
    and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
    and my servants shall settle there.^(H)
10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks
    and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people who have sought me.^(I)
11 But you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
    and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,^(J)
12 I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my sight
    and chose what I did not delight in.^(K)
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;^(L)
14 my servants shall sing with gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out in pain of heart
    and shall wail in anguish of spirit.^(M)
15 You shall leave your name to my chosen to use as a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but to his servants he will give a different name.^(N)
16 Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    shall bless by the God of faithfulness,
and whoever takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by the God of faithfulness,
because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my sight.^(O)

¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.^(P)
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
    and its people as a delight.^(Q)
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it
    or the cry of distress.^(R)
20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.^(S)
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.^(T)
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.^(U)
23 They shall not labor in vain
    or bear children for calamity,^[c]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
    and their descendants as well.^(V)
24 Before they call I will answer,
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.^(W)
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
            says the Lord.^(X)