Isaiah 65
65
All People Will Learn About God
1“I helped people who had not come to me for advice. Those who found me were not looking for me.#65:1 I helped … me Or “I was ready to answer those who did not come to me for advice. I was ready to be found by those who did not look for me.” I spoke to a nation that does not use my name. I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
2“All day long I stood ready to accept those who turned against me. But they kept doing whatever they wanted to do, and all they did was wrong. 3They keep doing things, right in front of me, that make me angry. They offer sacrifices and burn incense in their special gardens.#65:3 special gardens Gardens where people worshiped false gods. 4They sit among the graves, waiting to get messages from the dead. They eat the meat of pigs, and their pots are full of soup made from unclean meat. 5But they tell others, ‘Don’t come near me! Don’t touch me because I am holy!’ They are like smoke in my eyes, and their fire burns all the time.”
Israel Must Be Punished
6“Look, here is a letter that lists all your sins. I will not be quiet until I pay you back for these sins. I will do it by punishing you. 7I, the Lord, am doing this because of your sins and the sins of your ancestors. They did these sins when they burned incense in the mountains. They shamed me on those hills, and I punished them first.”
8The Lord says, “When there is new wine in the grapes, people squeeze out the wine. But they don’t completely destroy the grapes because the grapes can still be used. I will do the same thing to my servants. I will not destroy them completely. 9I will keep some of the people of Jacob. Some of the people of Judah will get my mountains. I will choose the people who will get the land. My servants will live there. 10Then Sharon Valley will be a field for sheep. The Valley of Achor#65:10 Valley of Achor A valley about ten miles north of Jerusalem. will be a place for cattle to rest. All this will be for my people—for the people who come to me for help.
11“But you people left the Lord, so you will be punished. You forgot about my holy mountain.#65:11 my holy mountain Mount Zion, the mountain Jerusalem is built on. You began to worship Luck. You held feasts for the false god, Fate.#65:11 Luck … Fate Two false gods. The people thought these gods controlled their futures. 12But I decided what would happen to you: you will be killed with a sword. You will all be killed because I called to you, but you refused to answer me. I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You did what I said is evil and chose to do what I did not like.”
13So this is what the Lord GOD says:
“My servants will eat,
but you evil people will be hungry.
My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
My servants will be happy,
but you will suffer shame.
14My servants will shout for joy,
but you will cry out in pain.#65:14 My servants … pain Literally, “My servants will rejoice with good hearts, and you will scream with painful hearts.”
Your spirits will be broken,
and you will be very sad.
15Your names will be like curses to my chosen servants.”
The Lord GOD will kill you,
and then he will call his servants by a new name.
16The Lord says, “People now ask blessings from the earth.
But in the future they will ask blessings from the faithful God.
People now trust in the power of the earth when they make a promise.
But in the future they will trust in the God who is faithful.
That’s because the troubles in the past will all be forgotten.
They will be hidden from my sight.”
A New Time Is Coming
17“I am creating a new heaven and a new earth.
The troubles of the past will be forgotten.
No one will remember them.
18My people will be happy and rejoice forever and ever
because of what I will make.
I will make a Jerusalem that is full of joy,
and I will make her people happy.
19“Then I will rejoice with Jerusalem.
I will be happy with my people.
There will never again be crying
and sadness in that city.
20In that city there will never be a baby who lives only a few days,
and every older person will live for a long, long time.
A person who lives 100 years will be called young.
And whoever doesn’t live that long will be considered cursed.
21“In that city whoever builds a house will live there;
whoever plants a vineyard will eat the grapes from that garden.
22Never again will one person build a house
and another person live there.
Never again will one person plant a garden
and another eat the fruit from it.
My people will live as long as the trees.
My chosen people will get full use of whatever they make.
23Never again will a woman suffer childbirth
and have her baby die.
Women will not fear childbirth.
I, the Lord, will bless all my people and their children.
24I will answer them before they call for help.
I will help them before they finish asking.
25Wolves and little lambs will eat together.
Lions will eat hay like cattle,
and snakes will eat only dust.
They will not hurt or destroy each other on my holy mountain.”
This is what the Lord said.
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Isaiah 65: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 65
65
1 #
Rom 10.20-21. I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here am I, here am I,”
to a nation that did not call on my name.
2I spread out my hands all the day
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
and burning incense upon bricks;
4who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine's flesh,
and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am set apart from you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6Behold, it is written before me:
“I will not keep silent, but I will repay,
yea, I will repay into their bosom
7their#65.7 Gk Syr: Heb your iniquities and their#65.7 Gk Syr: Heb your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
because they burned incense upon the mountains
and reviled me upon the hills,
I will measure into their bosom
payment for their former doings.”
8Thus says the Lord:
“As the wine is found in the cluster,
and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants' sake,
and not destroy them all.
9I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
and my servants shall dwell there.
10Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people who have sought me.
11But you who forsake the Lord,
who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;
12I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes,
and chose what I did not delight in.”
13Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, my servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be put to shame;
14behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart,
and shall wail for anguish of spirit.
15You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
and the Lord God will slay you;
but his servants he will call by a different name.
16So that he who blesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and are hid from my eyes.
17 #
Is 66.22; 2 Pet 3.13; Rev 21.1. “For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth;
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
18But be glad and rejoice for ever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people a joy.
19I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
20No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the child shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;#65.23 Or sudden terror
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their children with them.
24Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 #
Is 11.6-9. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.”
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America