Isaiah 66
66
Living Worship to God
1-2 God’s Message:
“Heaven’s my throne,
earth is my footstool.
What sort of house could you build for me?
What holiday spot reserve for me?
I made all this! I own all this!”
God’s Decree.
“But there is something I’m looking for:
a person simple and plain,
reverently responsive to what I say.
3-4“Your acts of worship
are acts of sin:
Your sacrificial slaughter of the ox
is no different from murdering the neighbor;
Your offerings for worship,
no different from dumping pig’s blood on the altar;
Your presentation of memorial gifts,
no different from honoring a no-god idol.
You choose self-serving worship,
you delight in self-centered worship—disgusting!
Well, I choose to expose your nonsense
and let you realize your worst fears,
Because 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.”
5But listen to what God has to say
to you who reverently respond to his Word:
“Your own families hate you
and turn you out because of me.
They taunt you, ‘Let us see God’s glory!
If God’s so great, why aren’t you happy?’
But they’re the ones
who are going to end up shamed.”
* * *
6Rumbles of thunder from the city!
A voice out of the Temple!
God’s voice,
handing out judgment to his enemies:
7-9“Before she went into labor,
she had the baby.
Before the birth pangs hit,
she delivered a son.
Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
Has anyone seen anything like this?
A country born in a day?
A nation born in a flash?
But Zion was barely in labor
when she had her babies!
Do I open the womb
and not deliver the baby?
Do I, the One who delivers babies,
shut the womb?
10-11“Rejoice, Jerusalem,
and all who love her, celebrate!
And all you who have shed tears over her,
join in the happy singing.
You newborns can satisfy yourselves
at her nurturing breasts.
Yes, delight yourselves and drink your fill
at her ample bosom.”
12-13 God’s Message:
“I’ll pour robust well-being into her like a river,
the glory of nations like a river in flood.
You’ll nurse at her breasts,
nestle in her bosom,
and be bounced on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so I’ll comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14-16You’ll see all this and burst with joy
—you’ll feel ten feet tall—
As it becomes apparent that God is on your side
and against his enemies.
For God arrives like wildfire
and his chariots like a tornado,
A furious outburst of anger,
a rebuke fierce and fiery.
For it’s by fire that God brings judgment,
a death sentence on the human race.
Many, oh so many,
are under God’s sentence of death:
17“All who enter the sacred groves for initiation in those unholy rituals that climaxed in that foul and obscene meal of pigs and mice will eat together and then die together.” God’s Decree.
18-21“I know everything they’ve ever done or thought. I’m going to come and then gather everyone—all nations, all languages. They’ll come and see my glory. I’ll set up a station at the center. I’ll send the survivors of judgment all over the world: Spain and Africa, Turkey and Greece, and the far-off islands that have never heard of me, who know nothing of what I’ve done nor who I am. I’ll send them out as missionaries to preach my glory among the nations. They’ll return with all your long-lost brothers and sisters from all over the world. They’ll bring them back and offer them in living worship to God. They’ll bring them on horses and wagons and carts, on mules and camels, straight to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says God. “They’ll present them just as Israelites present their offerings in a ceremonial vessel in the Temple of God. I’ll even take some of them and make them priests and Levites,” says God.
22-23“For just as the new heavens and new earth
that I am making will stand firm before me”
—God’s Decree—
“So will your children
and your reputation stand firm.
Month after month and week by week,
everyone will come to worship me,” God says.
24“And then they’ll go out and look at what happened
to those who rebelled against me. Corpses!
Maggots endlessly eating away on them,
an endless supply of fuel for fires.
Everyone who sees what’s happened
and smells the stench retches.”
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Isaiah 66: 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 66
66
Proper Worship
1Thus says Yahweh:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is the footstool for my feet.
Where is this house that you would build for me?
And where is this resting place for me?
2And my hand has made all these things,
and all these came to be,”#Literally “were”
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh, “but#Or “and” I look to this one:
to the humble and the contrite of spirit
and the one frightened at my word.
3The one who slaughters a bull strikes a man;
the one who slaughters a lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck of a dog.
The one who offers an offering, the blood of swine;
the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol.
Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways,
and their soul delights in their abhorrence.
4Indeed, I myself I will choose their ill treatment,
and I will bring them objects of their dread,
because I called, and no one answered;#Literally “there was no one who answers”
I spoke and they did not listen,
but#Or “and” they did the evil in my eyes,
and they chose that in which I do not delight.”
5Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are frightened at his word:
Your brothers who hate you,
who exclude you for my name’s sake have said,
“Let Yahweh be honored so that#Or “and” we may see your joy!”
But#Or “And” they themselves shall be ashamed.
6A voice, an uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of Yahweh paying back#Literally “rewarding retribution to” his enemies!
Zion’s Delivery
7Before she was in labor she gave birth;
before labor pains#Hebrew “pain” came to her, she gave birth to a son.
8Who has heard anything like this?
Who has seen anything like these things?
Can a land be born in one day?
Or can a nation be born in a moment?
Yet when she was in labor, Zion indeed gave birth to her children.
9Shall I myself I break open and not deliver?”#Literally “cause to bring forth” says Yahweh,
“or I who delivers#Literally “causes to bring forth” lock up the womb?” says your God.
10“Rejoice with Jerusalem
and shout in exultation with her, all those who love her!
Rejoice with her in joy, all those who mourn over her,
11so that you may suck and be satisfied from her consoling breast,#Literally “breast of consolation”
so that you may drink deeply and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”#Literally “breast of heaviness “
12For thus says Yahweh:
“Look! I am about to spread prosperity out to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you shall suck and be carried on the hip;
and you shall you shall be played with on the knees.
13As a man whose mother comforts him, so I myself will comfort you,
and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Yahweh’s Final Judgment
14And you shall see and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones shall flourish#Literally “sprout” like the grass,
and the hand of Yahweh shall make itself known to#Literally “with” his servants,
and he shall curse his enemies.
15For look! Yahweh will come in fire,
and his chariots like the storm wind,
to give back#Literally “cause to turn around” his anger in wrath,
and his rebuke in flames of fire.
16For Yahweh enters into judgment on all flesh with fire and his sword,
and those slain by#Literally “the slain of” Yahweh shall be many.
17Those who sanctify themselves
and those who cleanse themselves to go into#Literally “toward” the gardens after the one in the middle,
eating the flesh of swine
and detestable things#Hebrew “thing” and rodents#Hebrew “rodent” together
shall come to an end!” declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh.
18“And I—their works and thoughts!—am about to come to gather all nations and tongues,
and they shall come and see my glory.
19And I will set a sign among them,
and I will send survivors from them to the nations:
Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow;
Tubal and Javan, the faraway coastlands
that have not heard of my fame,
and have not seen my glory.
And they shall declare my glory among the nations, 20and bring all your countrymen#Or “brothers” from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh on horses and chariots#Hebrew “chariot” and in litters and on mules and camels, to#Or “on” my holy mountain,#Literally “the mountain of holiness me” Jerusalem,” says Yahweh, “just as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh. 21And indeed, I will take some of them as priests and the Levites,” says Yahweh. 22“For just as the new heavens and earth that I am about to make shall stand before me,” declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh, “so shall your descendants#Hebrew “descendant” and your name stand.
23And this shall happen: From new moon to new moon#Literally “enough of new moon in his new moon” and from Sabbath to Sabbath#Literally “enough of Sabbath in his Sabbath” all flesh shall come to bow in worship before me,” says Yahweh. 24“And they shall go out and look at the corpses of the people#Or “men” who have rebelled#Literally “rebelling” against me,
for their worm shall not die,
and their fire shall not be quenched,
and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
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