Isaiah 65
65
The LORD Answers His People’s Prayer
1I was ready to answer those who didn’t ask.
I was found by those who weren’t looking for me.
I said, “Here I am! Here I am!”
to a nation that didn’t worship me.
2I stretched out my hands all day long to stubborn people.
They chose to go the wrong direction.
They followed their own plans.
3These people constantly and openly provoked me.
They offered sacrifices in gardens
and burnt incense on brick altars.
4They sat among the graves and spent their nights in caves.
They ate pork and in their pots made broth from unclean foods.
5They said, “Stay away! Don’t touch me!
I’m holier than you are.”
They have become like smoke in my nose,
like a smoldering fire all day long.
6“Look! It is written in front of me.
I will not be silent, but I will repay.
I will repay you in full.
7I will repay you for your sins
and for the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord.
They burnt incense on the mountains and slandered me on the hills,
so I will be the first to pay them back in full.
8This is what the Lord says:
When someone finds juice for new wine in a cluster of grapes,
another person will say,
“Don’t destroy it, because there’s a blessing in it.”
In the same way, I will do this for my servants:
I will not destroy everything.
9I will bring ⌞with me⌟ Jacob’s descendant,
one who will inherit my mountains from Judah.
My chosen ones will inherit them.
My servants will live there.
10The Sharon Plain will be a pasture for flocks.
The Achor Valley will be a resting place for cattle
and for my people who search for me.
11You have abandoned the Lord
and forgotten my holy mountain.
You have prepared a table for the god of good fortune
and offered cups full of spiced wine to the goddess of destiny.
12Now I will destine you for death.
All of you will bow to be slaughtered.
I called, but you didn’t answer.
I spoke, but you didn’t listen.
You did what I consider evil.
You chose what I don’t like.
13This is what the Lord God says:
My servants will eat, but you will be hungry.
My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty.
My servants will be glad, but you will be ashamed.
14My servants will sing because of the gladness in their hearts.
But you will cry because of your sadness
and wail because of your depression.
15Your name will be used as a curse by my chosen ones.
The Almighty Lord will kill you
and call his servants by another name.
16Whoever asks for a blessing in the land
will be blessed by the God of Truth.
Whoever swears an oath in the land
will swear by the God of Truth.
Past troubles are forgotten.
They are hidden from my eyes.
17I will create a new heaven and a new earth.
Past things will not be remembered.
They will not come to mind.
18Be glad, and rejoice forever in what I’m going to create,
because I’m going to create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people to be a joy.
19I will rejoice about Jerusalem and be glad about my people.
Screaming and crying will no longer be heard in the city.
20There will no longer be an infant who lives for only a few days
or an old man who doesn’t live a long life.
Whoever lives to be a hundred years old will be thought of as young.
Whoever dies before he is a hundred years old will be cursed as a sinner.
21They will build houses and live there.
They will plant vineyards and eat fruit from them.
22They will not build homes and have others live there.
They will not plant and have others eat from it.
My people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will enjoy what they’ve done.
23They will never again work for nothing.
They will never again give birth to children who die young,
because they will be offspring blessed by the Lord.
The Lord will bless their descendants as well.
24Before they call, I will answer.
While they’re still speaking, I will hear.
25Wolves and lambs will feed together,
lions will eat straw like oxen,
and dust will be food for snakes.
“They will not hurt or destroy anyone anywhere on my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
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Isaiah 65: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 65
65
Judgment and Final Salvation
1The Lord says,
“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that did not call on my name.#65:1 Or to a nation that did not bear my name.
2All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.#65:1-2 Greek version reads I was found by people who were not looking for me. / I showed myself to those who were not asking for me. / All day long I opened my arms to them, / but they were disobedient and rebellious. Compare Rom 10:20-21.
But they follow their own evil paths
and their own crooked schemes.
3All day long they insult me to my face
by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens.
They burn incense on pagan altars.
4At night they go out among the graves,
worshiping the dead.
They eat the flesh of pigs
and make stews with other forbidden foods.
5Yet they say to each other,
‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!
I am holier than you!’
These people are a stench in my nostrils,
an acrid smell that never goes away.
6“Look, my decree is written out#65:6 Or their sins are written out; Hebrew reads it stands written. in front of me:
I will not stand silent;
I will repay them in full!
Yes, I will repay them—
7both for their own sins
and for those of their ancestors,”
says the Lord.
“For they also burned incense on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills.
I will pay them back in full!
8“But I will not destroy them all,”
says the Lord.
“For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones
(and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—
some of those grapes are good!’),
so I will not destroy all Israel.
For I still have true servants there.
9I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel#65:9 Hebrew remnant of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
and of Judah to possess my land.
Those I choose will inherit it,
and my servants will live there.
10The plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks
for my people who have searched for me,
and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.
11“But because the rest of you have forsaken the Lord
and have forgotten his Temple,
and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate
and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,
12now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword.
All of you will bow down before the executioner.
For when I called, you did not answer.
When I spoke, you did not listen.
You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes—
and chose to do what you know I despise.”
13Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“My servants will eat,
but you will starve.
My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
but you will be sad and ashamed.
14My servants will sing for joy,
but you will cry in sorrow and despair.
15Your name will be a curse word among my people,
for the Sovereign Lord will destroy you
and will call his true servants by another name.
16All who invoke a blessing or take an oath
will do so by the God of truth.
For I will put aside my anger
and forget the evil of earlier days.
17“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
18Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
Her people will be a source of joy.
19I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
will be heard in it no more.
20“No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
Only the cursed will die that young!
21In those days people will live in the houses they build
and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
22Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
23They will not work in vain,
and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord,
and their children, too, will be blessed.
24I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
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