Isaiah 66
66
Chapter 66
The Lord is a great Judge
1This is what the Lord says:
‘Heaven is my throne.
The earth is the place where I put my feet.
So you could not build a house for me to live in.
Where would I lie down to rest?
2I made all these things with my own hands.
That is how everything began.’
The Lord says,
‘I am pleased with people who are humble.
Those people are sorry when they do wrong things.
They respect my teaching.
3You may kill a bull as a sacrifice to me,
but you might also kill a man.
You may offer a lamb to me as a sacrifice,
but you might also break a dog's neck to offer to your idols.
You may give me a grain offering,
but you also offer pigs' blood.
You may burn incense to worship me
but you also worship false gods.
Yes, these people have chosen how they want to live.
They love to do these disgusting things.
4So I will cause great trouble to come to them.
It will be the trouble that they are so afraid of.
When I called out to them,
nobody answered me.
When I spoke to them,
nobody listened.
They did evil things against me.
They chose to do things that I would hate.’
5Hear this message from the Lord, you people who respect his teaching. Some of your own people hate you. They throw you out, because you are faithful to me. They laugh at you and they say, ‘Let the Lord show how great he is! We want to see him make you happy!’
But it is those people who will be ashamed.
6Listen to the loud noise that is coming from the city! It is a noise that comes from the temple. The Lord is punishing his enemies as they deserve. That is what is making the noise!
7What is happening? Zion is giving birth to a son before she has her birth pains! 8Nobody has ever heard of anything like that. Nobody has ever seen that happen before. Can a country be born in just one day? Can a nation be born in a moment? But as soon as Zion's birth pains begin, she has already given birth to her children!
9The Lord your God says, ‘When I bring a baby to the moment of birth, the child is always born. I do not stop its birth.’
10All you people who love Jerusalem, join together with its people and be happy. You have been sad to see what has happened to the city, but now you should shout with joy! 11Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother. She will give you all that you need, like a mother that feeds her baby with milk. The great blessing that comes from her full breasts will make you very happy.
12The Lord says,
‘Look! I will give peace to Jerusalem,
like a great river.
Riches from other nations will pour into the city,
like a stream that is full of water.
Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother that feeds her baby.
She will carry you in her arms,
and she will hold you on her knees.
13I will comfort you,
as a mother comforts her child.
As you live in Jerusalem,
you will be happy again.’
14And when you see these things happen, you will feel very happy! You will become strong and healthy, like fresh grass. The Lord's servants will know that he is there to bless them. But his enemies will see that he is angry with them.
15Look! The Lord is coming with fire. His chariots will blow in like a strong storm. People will see his great anger, as he comes to punish his enemies with flames of fire. 16The Lord will use fire and his sword to judge all people. The Lord will kill many people.
17The Lord says, ‘I will destroy people who prepare themselves to worship their false gods. They make themselves clean and they follow one another into their special gardens. They eat unclean meat from pigs and rats and other disgusting animals. They will all come to their deaths together. 18I know everything that they do and everything that they think. So I will come. I will bring together the people from all nations and those who speak all languages. I will show them how great I am.
19I will do a great thing among them, to show them my power. I will send some of the people who are still alive to other nations. They will go to:
Tarshish,
Libya,
Lydia (where their soldiers shoot arrows very well),
Tubal,
Greece,
and lands far away, where people have never heard about me and they do not know how great I am.
Those people will tell other nations about my great glory.’
20The Lord says, ‘They will bring back all your relatives who still live in other countries. They will bring them to my holy hill in Jerusalem, as a gift to me, the Lord. They will come on horses, in chariots, in carts, on mules and on camels. They will bring them in the way that the Israelites bring grain offerings to me in my temple. They bring their offerings in holy dishes.’
21The Lord says, ‘I will choose some of them to be priests. And I will choose some of them to serve me as Levites.’
22The Lord says, ‘The new heavens and the new earth that I will make will always be there. In the same way, your descendants and your family name will always continue.’
23The Lord says, ‘Everybody will come to worship me. They will come at each New Moon and on every Sabbath day. 24When they go out of the city, they will see the dead bodies of the people who turned against me. In that heap of bodies, the worms never die and the fire never stops burning. #66:24 See Mark 9:48. Everybody will see that it is disgusting.’
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MissionAssist 2018
Isaiah 66
66
LXVI
1Thus saith Jehovah:
The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-stool;
Where is the house that ye could build unto me?
And where is the place of my rest?
2For all these things hath mine hand made;
And all these things have been, saith Jehovah:
But to this man will I look,
To him that is humble and of a contrite spirit,
And that trembleth at my word.
3He that slayeth an ox, killeth a man;
He that sacrificeth a lamb, beheadeth a dog;
He that offereth an oblation, offereth swine’s blood;
He that burneth incense, blesseth an idol.
Yea, they have chosen their own ways,
And their soul delighteth in their abominations.
4I will also choose their calamities,
And what they dread will I bring upon them;
Because, when I called, none did answer;
When I spake, they did not hearken;
But they did that which was evil in my sight,
And chose that in which I delighted not.
5Hear ye the word of Jehovah,
Ye that tremble at his word;
Your brethren who hate you,
Who cast you out for my name’s sake, have said,
Let Jehovah be glorified that we may see your joy!
But they shall be ashamed.
6A voice of tumult from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of Jehovah! rendering recompense to his enemies.
7Before she was in travail, she brought forth;
Before her pangs came, she was delivered of a man child.
8Who hath heard such a thing?
Who hath seen the like of these things?
Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For no sooner was Zion in travail, than she brought forth her children.
9Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah:
Shall I, who beget, restrain the birth? saith your God.
10Rejoice ye with Jerusalem,
And exult on her account, all ye that love her;
Joy with her exceedingly,
All ye that mourn over her;
11That ye may suck, and be satisfied, from the breast of her consolations;
That ye may press out, and be delighted with the abundant splendour of her glory.
12For thus saith Jehovah:
Behold! I will extend peace to her like a river,
And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
And ye shall suck:
Ye shall be carried at the side;
And on the knees shall ye be dandled.
13As one whom his mother comforteth,
So will I comfort you;
And in Jerusalem shall ye be comforted.
14And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice;
And your bones shall flourish, like the green herb:
And the hand of Jehovah shall be known to be with his servants;
And He will be moved with indignation against his enemies.
15For, behold! Jehovah shall come with fire,
And his chariots shall be like the whirlwind,
To render his anger with a burning heat,
And his rebuke with flames of fire.
16For with fire shall Jehovah contend,
And with his sword, with all flesh;
And the slain of Jehovah shall be many.
17They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves
In the gardens, one after another openly,
Eating swine’s flesh, and what is abomination, and the mouse,
Shall perish together, saith Jehovah.
18For I know their works and their thoughts:
It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues;
And they shall come, and see my glory.
19And I will set a sign among them,
And I will send those that escape of them, unto the nations;
To Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow,
To Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off,
That have not heard my fame,
Neither have seen my glory;
And they shall declare my glory among the nations.
20And they shall bring all your brethren,
From all the nations, for an oblation to Jehovah,
Upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters,
Upon mules, and upon dromedaries,
To my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith Jehovah,
As the children of Israel bring the oblation
In a clean vessel to the house of Jehovah.
21And I will also take of them
For priests, and for Levites, saith Jehovah.
22For as the new heavens,
And the new earth which I will make,
Shall remain before me, saith Jehovah;
So shall your seed, and your name remain.
23And it shall be, that from new moon to new moon,
And from sabbath to sabbath,
Shall all flesh come to worship before me,
Saith Jehovah.
24And they shall go forth, and shall see
The carcases of those men, who have rebelled against me:
For their worm shall not die,
Neither shall their fire be quenched;
And they shall be an abhorrence unto all flesh.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.