Isaiah 65
65
The People Who Bothered to Reach Out to God
1-7“I’ve made myself available
to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found
by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’
to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day
to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns,
who insist on doing things their own way.
They get on my nerves,
are rude to my face day after day,
Make up their own kitchen religion,
a potluck religious stew.
They spend the night in tombs
to get messages from the dead,
Eat forbidden foods
and drink a witch’s brew of potions and charms.
They say, ‘Keep your distance.
Don’t touch me. I’m holier than thou.’
These people gag me.
I can’t stand their stench.
Look at this! Their sins are all written out—
I have the list before me.
I’m not putting up with this any longer.
I’ll pay them the wages
They have coming for their sins.
And for the sins of their parents lumped in,
a bonus.” God says so.
“Because they’ve practiced their blasphemous worship,
mocking me at their hillside shrines,
I’ll let loose the consequences
and pay them in full for their actions.”
* * *
8-10 God’s Message:
“But just as one bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bushel,
there are still plenty of good apples left.
So I’ll preserve those in Israel who obey me.
I won’t destroy the whole nation.
I’ll bring out my true children from Jacob
and the heirs of my mountains from Judah.
My chosen will inherit the land,
my servants will move in.
The lush valley of Sharon in the west
will be a pasture for flocks,
And in the east, the valley of Achor,
a place for herds to graze.
These will be for the people
who bothered to reach out to me, who wanted me in their lives,
who actually bothered to look for me.
* * *
11-12“But you who abandon me, your God,
who forget the holy mountains,
Who hold dinners for Lady Luck
and throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate,
Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be:
your destiny, Death.
For when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil;
you chose what I hate.”
13-16Therefore, this is the Message from the Master, God:
“My servants will eat,
and you’ll go hungry;
My servants will drink,
and you’ll go thirsty;
My servants will rejoice,
and you’ll hang your heads.
My servants will laugh from full hearts,
and you’ll cry out heartbroken,
yes, wail from crushed spirits.
Your legacy to my chosen
will be your name reduced to a cussword.
I, God, will put you to death
and give a new name to my servants.
Then whoever prays a blessing in the land
will use my faithful name for the blessing,
And whoever takes an oath in the land
will use my faithful name for the oath,
Because the earlier troubles are gone and forgotten,
banished far from my sight.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17-25“Pay close attention now:
I’m creating new heavens and a new earth.
All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain
are things of the past, to be forgotten.
Look ahead with joy.
Anticipate what I’m creating:
I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy,
create my people as pure delight.
I’ll take joy in Jerusalem,
take delight in my people:
No more sounds of weeping in the city,
no cries of anguish;
No more babies dying in the cradle,
or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime;
One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal—
anything less will seem like a cheat.
They’ll build houses
and move in.
They’ll plant fields
and eat what they grow.
No more building a house
that some outsider takes over,
No more planting fields
that some enemy confiscates,
For my people will be as long-lived as trees,
my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work.
They won’t work and have nothing come of it,
they won’t have children snatched out from under them.
For they themselves are plantings blessed by God,
with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed.
Before they call out, I’ll answer.
Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard.
Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow,
lion and ox eat straw from the same trough,
but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt!
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.
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Isaiah 65: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 65
65
The Lord’s Response
1“I was sought by those who did not ask;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
to a nation that did not call on#65:1 Or that was not called by my name.#Is 63:19; Hs 1:10; Rm 10:20; Jms 2:7
2I spread out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people#Rm 10:21
who walk in the path that is not good,
following their own thoughts.
3These people continually anger me
to my face,
sacrificing in gardens,#Is 1:29; 66:17
burning incense on bricks,
4sitting among the graves,
spending nights in secret places,
eating the meat of pigs,#Lv 11:7; Is 66:3,17
and putting polluted broth in their bowls.#65:3–4 These vv. describe pagan worship.
5They say, ‘Keep to yourself,
don’t come near me, for I am too holy for you!’
These practices are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
6Look, it is written in front of me:
I will not keep silent,#Ps 50:3,21; Is 42:14; 64:12 but I will repay;#Jr 16:18
I will repay them fully#65:6 Lit repay into their lap
7for your iniquities and the iniquities#Is 13:11
of your#65:7 LXX, Syr read for their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors together,”
says the Lord.
“Because they burned incense on the mountains
and reproached me on the hills,#Ezk 20:27–28; Hs 9:10; Zch 8:14; Mal 3:7
I will reward them fully#65:7 Lit reward into their lap
for their former deeds.”
8The Lord says this:
“As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,
and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it,
for there’s some good#65:8 Or there’s a blessing in it,’
so I will act because of my servants
and not destroy them all.
9I will produce descendants from Jacob,#Jr 31:36–37
and heirs to my mountains from Judah;
my chosen#Is 41:8 ones will possess it,
and my servants will dwell there.#Is 49:8; 60:21; Am 9:11–15
10Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,#Is 33:9; 35:2
and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,#Jos 7:26; Hs 2:15
for my people who have sought me.#Is 51:1
11But you who abandon the Lord,
who forget my holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,#65:11 Pagan gods
12I will destine you for the sword,
and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,
because I called and you did not answer,
I spoke and you did not hear;
you did what was evil in my sight
and chose what I did not delight in.”#2Ch 36:15–16; Pr 1:24; Is 41:28; 50:2; 66:4; Jr 7:13
13Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
“Look! My servants will eat,
but you will be hungry.
Look! My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
Look! My servants will rejoice,
but you will be put to shame.
14Look! My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,
but you will cry out from an anguished heart,
and you will lament out of a broken spirit.
15You will leave your name behind
as a curse for my chosen ones,#Jr 24:9; 25:18; Zch 8:13
and the Lord God will kill you;
but he will give his servants another name.#Is 62:2
16Whoever asks for a blessing in the land
will ask for a blessing by the God of truth,#Ps 31:5; 2Co 1:20; Rv 3:7,14
and whoever swears in the land
will swear by the God of truth.
For the former troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from my sight.
A New Creation
17“For I will create new heavens and a new earth;#Is 66:22; 2Pt 3:13; Rv 21:1
the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.
18Then be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight.
19I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people.
The sound of weeping and crying
will no longer be heard in her.#Is 25:8; 30:19; 35:10; 51:11; Rv 7:17; 21:4
20In her, a nursing infant will no longer live
only a few days,#65:20 Lit her, no longer infant of days
or an old man not live out his days.
Indeed, the one who dies at a hundred years old
will be mourned as a young man,#65:20 Lit the youth of a hundred years will die
and the one who misses a hundred years
will be considered cursed.#Ec 8:12–13; Is 3:11; 22:14
21People will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.#Jos 24:13; Is 37:30; Jr 29:5,28; Ezk 28:26; Zph 1:13
22They will not build and others live in them;
they will not plant and others eat.
For my people’s lives will be
like the lifetime of a tree.#Ps 92:12–14
My chosen ones will fully enjoy
the work of their hands.
23They will not labor without success#Dt 28:3–12; Is 55:2
or bear children destined for disaster,
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord
along with their descendants.#Is 61:9
24Even before they call, I will answer;#Ps 91:15; Is 55:6; 58:9; Dn 9:20–23; 10:12
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together,#65:25 Lit as one
and the lion will eat straw like cattle,#Is 11:6–9
but the serpent’s food will be dust!#Gn 3:14; Mc 7:17
They will not do what is evil or destroy
on my entire holy mountain,”#Is 11:9; 27:13; 56:7
says the Lord.
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