Isaiah 65:1-25
65 “I have let myself be searched for by those who did not ask for me;I have let myself be found by those who did not look for me.+
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that was not calling on my name.+
2 I have spread out my hands all day long to a stubborn people,+To those walking in the way that is not good,+Following their own thoughts;+
3 A people who constantly offend me to my face,+Sacrificing in gardens+ and making sacrificial smoke on bricks.
4 They sit among graves,+And they pass the night in hidden places,*Eating the flesh of pigs,+And the broth of foul* things is in their vessels.+
5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself; do not approach me,For I am holier than you.’*
These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day long.
6 Look! It is written before me;I will not stand still,But I will repay them,+I will repay them in full measure*
7 For their errors and for the errors of their forefathers as well,”+ says Jehovah.
“Because they have made sacrificial smoke on the mountainsAnd have reproached me on the hills,+I will first measure out their wages in full.”*
8 This is what Jehovah says:
“Just as when new wine is found in a cluster of grapesAnd someone says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is some good* in it,’
So I will do for the sake of my servants;I will not destroy them all.+
9 I will bring out of Jacob an offspring*And out of Judah the one to inherit my mountains;+My chosen ones will take possession of it,And my servants will reside there.+
10 Sharʹon+ will become a pasture for sheepAnd the Valley* of Aʹchor+ a resting-place for cattle,For my people who search for me.
11 But you are among those forsaking Jehovah,+Those forgetting my holy mountain,+Those setting a table for the god of Good Luck,And those filling up cups of mixed wine for the god of Destiny.
12 So I will destine you for the sword,+And all of you will bow down to be slaughtered,+Because I called, but you did not answer,I spoke, but you did not listen;+You kept doing what was bad in my eyes,And you chose what displeased me.”+
13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says:
“Look! My servants will eat, but you will go hungry.+
Look! My servants will drink,+ but you will go thirsty.
Look! My servants will rejoice,+ but you will suffer shame.+
14 Look! My servants will shout joyfully because of the good condition of the heart,But you will cry out because of the pain of heartAnd you will wail because of a broken spirit.
15 You will leave behind a name that my chosen ones will use as a curse,And the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will put each of you to death,But his own servants he will call by another name;+
16 So that anyone who seeks a blessing for himself in the earthWill be blessed by the God of truth,*And anyone who swears an oath in the earthWill swear by the God of truth.*+
For the former distresses* will be forgotten;They will be concealed from my eyes.+
17 For look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth;+And the former things will not be called to mind,*Nor will they come up into the heart.+
18 So exult and be joyful forever in what I am creating.
For look! I am creating Jerusalem a cause for joyAnd her people a cause for exultation.+
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people;+No more will there be heard in her the sound of weeping or a cry of distress.”+
20 “No more will there be an infant from that place who lives but a few days,Nor an old man who fails to live out his days.
For anyone who dies at a hundred will be considered a mere boy,And the sinner will be cursed, even though he is a hundred years of age.*
21 They will build houses and live in them,+And they will plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.+
22 They will not build for someone else to inhabit,Nor will they plant for others to eat.
For the days of my people will be like the days of a tree,+And the work of their hands my chosen ones will enjoy to the full.
23 They will not toil* for nothing,*+Nor will they bear children for distress,Because they are the offspring* made up of those blessed by Jehovah,+And their descendants with them.+
24 Even before they call out, I will answer;While they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,The lion will eat straw just like the bull,+And the serpent’s food will be dust.
They will do no harm nor cause any ruin in all my holy mountain,”+ says Jehovah.
Footnotes
^ Or possibly, “in watch huts.”
^ Or “unclean.”
^ Or possibly, “For I will convey my holiness to you.”
^ Lit., “into their bosom.”
^ Lit., “into their bosom.”
^ Lit., “a blessing.”
^ Lit., “a seed.”
^ Or “Low Plain.”
^ Or “faithfulness.” Lit., “Amen.”
^ Or “faithfulness.” Lit., “Amen.”
^ Or “troubles.”
^ Or “be remembered.”
^ Or possibly, “And the one who falls short of a hundred will be considered cursed.”
^ Or “work hard.”
^ Or “in vain.”
^ Lit., “seed.”