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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Isaiah 66
66
Heaven Is God’s Throne
1This is what the Lord says,
“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where, then, is a house that you could build for Me?
And where will My resting place be?
2For all these things My hand has made,
So all these things came into being [by and for Me],” declares the Lord.
“But to this one I will look [graciously],
To him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who [reverently] trembles at My word and honors My commands.
Hypocrisy Rebuked
3“He who kills an ox [for pagan sacrifice] is [as guilty] as one who kills a man;
He who sacrifices a lamb, as one who breaks a dog’s neck;
He who offers a grain offering, as one who offers swine’s blood;
He who offers incense, as one who blesses an idol.
Such people have chosen their own ways,
And their soul delights in their repulsive acts;
4So I will choose their punishments,
And will bring the things they dread upon them
Because I called, but no one answered;
I spoke, but they did not listen or obey.
But they did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight.”
5Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble [with awe-filled reverence] at His word:
“Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My Name’s sake,
Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’
But they will be put to shame.
6The sound of an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple!
The voice of the Lord, providing retribution to His enemies.
7“Before she (Zion) was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her labor pain came, she gave birth to a boy.
8Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?
Can a land #As foretold here and in Ezek 37:21, 22, Israel became a recognized nation, actually “born in one day.” After being away from their homeland for almost 2,000 years, the Jews were given a national homeland in Palestine by the Balfour Declaration in November 1917. In 1922, the League of Nations gave Great Britain the mandate over Palestine. On May 14, 1948, Great Britain withdrew her mandate, and immediately Israel was declared a sovereign state, and her growth and importance among nations was astonishing.be born in one day?
Or can a nation be brought forth in a moment?
As soon as Zion was in labor, she also brought forth her sons.
9Shall I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord.
“Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.
Joy in Jerusalem’s Future
10“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her;
Rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her,
11That you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts,
That you may drink deeply and be delighted with her bountiful bosom.”
12For the Lord says this, “Behold, I extend peace to her (Jerusalem) like a river,
And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
And you will be nursed, you will be carried on her hip and [playfully] rocked on her knees.
13As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you;
And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14When you see this, your heart will rejoice;
Your bones will flourish like new grass.
And the [powerful] hand of the Lord will be revealed to His servants,
But His indignation will be toward His enemies.
15For indeed, the Lord will come in fire
And His chariots will be like the stormy wind,
To render His anger with rage,
And His rebuke with flames of fire.
16For the Lord will execute judgment by fire
And by His sword on all mankind,
And those slain by the Lord will be many.
17“Those who [vainly attempt to] sanctify and cleanse themselves to go to the gardens [to sacrifice to idols],
Following after #Perhaps referring to the image of the Syrian god Adad. Some commentators also suggest that this may refer to the cultic leader in the center who shows by his example how to conduct the ceremonies.one in the center,
Who eat swine’s flesh, #This may refer to a reptile of some kind.detestable things and mice,
Will come to an end together,” says the Lord.
18“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time is coming to gather all nations and languages, and they will come and see My glory. 19I will set up a [miraculous] sign among them, and from them I will send survivors to the nations: Tarshish, Pul (Put), Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant islands and coastlands that have not heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare and proclaim My glory among the nations. 20Then they shall bring all your countrymen (children of Israel) from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels—to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord.
22“For just as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I make will remain and endure before Me,” declares the Lord,
“So your offspring and your name will remain and endure.
23And it shall be that from New Moon to New Moon
And from Sabbath to Sabbath,
All mankind will come to bow down and worship before Me,” says the Lord.
24“Then they will go forth and look
Upon the dead bodies of the [rebellious] men
Who have transgressed against Me;
For their worm (maggot) will not die,
And their fire will not go out;
And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”
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