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
The LORD Judges the Nations
1 #
Mt 5.34, 35; 23.22 #
Acts 7.49–50
The LORD says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house, then, could you build for me, what kind of place for me to live in? 2I myself created the whole universe! I am pleased with those who are humble and repentant, who fear me and obey me.
3“The people do as they please. It's all the same to them whether they kill a bull as a sacrifice or sacrifice a human being; whether they sacrifice a lamb or break a dog's neck; whether they present a grain offering or offer pigs' blood; whether they offer incense or pray to an idol. They take pleasure in disgusting ways of worship. 4So I will bring disaster upon them — the very things they are afraid of — because no one answered when I called or listened when I spoke. They chose to disobey me and do evil.”
5Listen to what the LORD says, you that fear him and obey him: “Because you are faithful to me, some of your own people hate you and will have nothing to do with you. They mock you and say, ‘Let the LORD show his greatness and save you, so that we may see you rejoice.’ But they themselves will be disgraced! 6Listen! That loud noise in the city, that sound in the Temple, is the sound of the LORD punishing his enemies!
7 #
Rev 12.5
“My holy city is like a woman who suddenly gives birth to a child, without ever going into labour. 8Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a day? Zion will not have to suffer long, before the nation is born. 9Do not think that I will bring my people to the point of birth and not let them be born.” The LORD has spoken.
10Rejoice with Jerusalem; be glad for her,
all you that love this city!
Rejoice with her now,
all you that have mourned for her!
11You will enjoy her prosperity,
like a child at its mother's breast.
12The LORD says, “I will bring you lasting prosperity; the wealth of the nations will flow to you like a river that never goes dry. You will be like a child that is nursed by its mother, carried in her arms, and treated with love. 13I will comfort you in Jerusalem, as a mother comforts her child. 14When you see this happen, you will be glad; it will make you strong and healthy. Then you will know that I, the LORD, help those who obey me, and I show my anger against my enemies.”
15The LORD will come with fire. He will ride on the wings of a storm to punish those he is angry with. 16By fire and sword he will punish all the people of the world whom he finds guilty — and many will be put to death.
17The LORD says, “The end is near for those who purify themselves for pagan worship, who go in procession to sacred gardens,#66.17 sacred gardens: See 1.29. and who eat pork and mice and other disgusting foods. 18I know#66.18 Some ancient translations I know; Hebrew I. their thoughts and their deeds. I am coming#66.18 Some ancient translations I am coming; Hebrew He is coming. to gather the people of all the nations. When they come together, they will see what my power can do 19and will know that I am the one who punishes them.
“But I will spare some of them and send them to the nations and the distant lands that have not heard of my fame or seen my greatness and power: to Spain, Libya,#66.19 One ancient translation Libya; Hebrew Pul. and Lydia, with its skilled archers, and to Tubal and Greece. Among these nations they will proclaim my greatness. 20They will bring back all your fellow-Israelites from the nations as a gift to me. They will bring them to my sacred hill#66.20 sacred hill: See 2.3. in Jerusalem on horses, mules, and camels, and in chariots and wagons, just as Israelites bring grain offerings to the Temple in ritually clean containers. 21I will make some of them priests and Levites.
22 #
Is 65.17; 2 Pet 3.13; Rev 21.1 “Just as the new earth and the new heavens will endure by my power, so your descendants and your name will endure. 23On every New Moon Festival and every Sabbath, people of every nation will come to worship me here in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. 24#Mk 9.48“As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. The worms that eat them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never be put out. The sight of them will be disgusting to the whole human race.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.