Isaiah 66

¹Thus says the Lord:

Heaven is my throne

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is my resting place?

²All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things are mine,

says the Lord.

But this is the one to whom I will look,

to the humble and contrite in spirit,

who trembles at my word.

³Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being;

whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;

whoever presents a grain offering, like one who offers swine’s blood;

whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

These have chosen their own ways,

and in their abominations they take delight;

⁴I also will choose to mock them,

and bring upon them what they fear;

because, when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke, they did not listen;

but they did what was evil in my sight,

and chose what did not please me.

⁵Hear the word of the Lord,

you who tremble at his word:

Your own people who hate you

and reject you for my name’s sake

have said, “Let the Lord be glorified,

so that we may see your joy”;

but it is they who shall be put to shame.

⁶Listen, an uproar from the city!

A voice from the temple!

The voice of the Lord,

dealing retribution to his enemies!

⁷Before she was in labor

she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her

she delivered a son.

⁸Who has heard of such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?

Yet as soon as Zion was in labor

she delivered her children.

⁹Shall I open the womb and not deliver?

says the Lord;

shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?

says your God.

¹⁰Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice with her in joy,

all you who mourn over her—

¹¹that you may nurse and be satisfied

from her consoling breast;

that you may drink deeply with delight

from her glorious bosom.

¹²For thus says the Lord:

I will extend prosperity to her like a river,

and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm,

and dandled on her knees.

¹³As a mother comforts her child,

so I will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

your bodies shall flourish like the grass;

and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants,

and his indignation is against his enemies.

¹⁵For the Lord will come in fire,

and his chariots like the whirlwind,

to pay back his anger in fury,

and his rebuke in flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire will the Lord execute judgment,

and by his sword, on all flesh;

and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

²²For as the new heavens and the new earth,

which I will make,

shall remain before me, says the Lord;

so shall your descendants and your name remain.

²³From new moon to new moon,

and from sabbath to sabbath,

all flesh shall come to worship before me,

says the Lord.