Isaiah 65

Judgment and Salvation

¹“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;

I was found by those who did not seek me.

To a nation that did not call on my name,

I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’

²All day long I have held out my hands

to an obstinate people,

who walk in ways not good,

pursuing their own imaginations—

³a people who continually provoke me

to my very face,

offering sacrifices in gardens

and burning incense on altars of brick;

⁴who sit among the graves

and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;

who eat the flesh of pigs,

and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;

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

for I am too sacred for you!’

Such people are smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that keeps burning all day.

⁶“See, it stands written before me:

I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;

I will pay it back into their laps—

⁷both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,”

says the Lord.

“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains

and defied me on the hills,

I will measure into their laps

the full payment for their former deeds.”

⁸This is what the Lord says:

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

and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,

there is still a blessing in it,’

so will I do in behalf of my servants;

I will not destroy them all.

⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;

my chosen people will inherit them,

and there will my servants live.

¹⁰Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,

and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,

for my people who seek me.

¹¹“But as for you who forsake the Lord

and forget my holy mountain,

who spread a table for Fortune

and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,

¹²I will destine you for the sword,

and all of you will fall in the slaughter;

for I called but you did not answer,

I spoke but you did not listen.

You did evil in my sight

and chose what displeases me.”

¹³Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“My servants will eat,

but you will go hungry;

my servants will drink,

but you will go thirsty;

my servants will rejoice,

but you will be put to shame.

¹⁴My servants will sing

out of the joy of their hearts,

but you will cry out

from anguish of heart

and wail in brokenness of spirit.

¹⁵You will leave your name

for my chosen ones to use in their curses;

the Sovereign Lord will put you to death,

but to his servants he will give another name.

¹⁶Whoever invokes a blessing in the land

will do so by the one true God;

whoever takes an oath in the land

will swear by the one true God.

For the past troubles will be forgotten

and hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷“See, I will create

new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,

nor will they come to mind.

¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever

in what I will create,

for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight

and its people a joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice over Jerusalem

and take delight in my people;

the sound of weeping and of crying

will be heard in it no more.

²⁰“Never again will there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not live out his years;

the one who dies at a hundred

will be thought a mere child;

the one who fails to reach a hundred

will be considered accursed.

²¹They will build houses and dwell in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²No longer will they build houses and others live in them,

or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree,

so will be the days of my people;

my chosen ones will long enjoy

the work of their hands.

²³They will not labor in vain,

nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;

for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,

they and their descendants with them.

²⁴Before they call I will answer;

while they are still speaking I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.