Isaiah 65

1 “I have been inquired of by those who did not ask, I have been found by those who did not seek Me, I have said, Behold Me, behold Me, To a nation not calling on My Name.

I have been ready to give an answer to those who did not make prayer to me; I have been offering myself to those who were not searching for me; I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation which gave no respect to my name.

2 I have spread out My hands all the day To an apostate people, Who are going in the way [that is] not good, After their own thoughts.

All day my hands have been stretched out to an uncontrolled people, who go in an evil way, after the purposes of their hearts;

3 The people who are continually provoking Me to anger, To My face, Sacrificing in gardens, and making incense on the bricks:

A people who make me angry every day, making offerings in gardens, and burning perfumes on bricks.

4 Who are dwelling among tombs, And lodge in reserved places, Who are eating flesh of the sow, And a piece of abominations—their vessels.

Who are seated in the resting-places of the dead, and by night are in the secret places; who take pig's flesh for food, and have the liquid of disgusting things in their vessels.

5 Who are saying, Keep to yourself, do not come near to me, For I have declared you unholy. These [are] smoke in My anger, A fire burning all the day.

Who say, Keep away, do not come near me, for fear that I make you holy: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire burning all day.

6 Behold, it is written before Me: I am not silent, but have repaid; And I have repaid into their bosom,

See, it is recorded before me, says the Lord: I will not keep back my hand, till I have sent punishment,

7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together,” said YHWH, “Who have made incense on the mountains, And have reproached Me on the heights, And I have measured their former work into their bosom.”

For their sins and the sins of their fathers, who were burning perfumes on the mountains, and saying evil things against me on the hills: so I will take the measure of their sins, and will send the punishment for them into their breast.

8 Thus said YHWH: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one has said, Do not destroy it for a blessing [is] in it, So I do for My servants’ sake, Not to destroy the whole.

This is the word of the Lord: As the new wine is seen in the grapes, and they say, Do not send destruction on it, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants, in order that I may not put an end to them all.

9 And I have brought out a Seed from Jacob, And from Judah a Possessor of My mountain, And My chosen ones possess it, And My servants dwell there.

And I will take a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah one who will have my mountains for a heritage: and the people I have taken to be mine will have it for themselves, and my servants will have their resting-place there.

10 And Sharon has been for the habitation of a flock, And the Valley of Achor for the lying down of a herd, For My people who have sought Me.

And Sharon will be a grass-land for the flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for the herds: for my people whose hearts have been turned back to me.

11 And you [are] those forsaking YHWH, Who are forgetting My holy mountain, Who are setting a table in array for Gad, And who are filling a mixture for Meni.

But as for you who have given up the Lord, who have no care for my holy mountain, who get ready a table for Chance, and make offerings of mixed wine to Fate;

12 And I have numbered you for the sword, And all of you bow down for slaughter, Because I called, and you have not answered, I have spoken, and you have not listened, And you do evil in My eyes, And on that which I did not desire—fixed.”

Your fate will be the sword, and you will all go down to death: because when my voice came to you, you made no answer; you did not give ear to my word; but you did what was evil in my eyes, desiring what was not pleasing to me.

13 Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: “Behold, My servants eat, and you hunger, Behold, My servants drink, and you thirst, Behold, My servants rejoice, and you are ashamed,

For this cause says the Lord God, My servants will have food, but you will be in need of food: my servants will have drink, but you will be dry: my servants will have joy, but you will be shamed:

14 Behold, My servants sing from joy of heart, And you cry from pain of heart, And you howl from breaking of spirit.

My servants will make songs in the joy of their hearts, but you will be crying for sorrow, and making sounds of grief from a broken spirit.

15 And you have left your name For an oath for My chosen ones, And Lord YHWH has put you to death, And He gives another name to His servants;

And your name will become a curse to my people, and the Lord God will put you to death, and give his servants another name:

16 So that he who is blessing himself in the earth, Blesses himself in the God of faithfulness, And he who is swearing in the earth, Swears by the God of faithfulness, Because the former distresses have been forgotten, And because they have been hid from My eyes.

So that he who is requesting a blessing will make use of the name of the true God, and he who takes an oath will do so by the true God; because the past troubles are gone out of mind, and because they are covered from my eyes.

17 For behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, And the former things are not remembered, Nor do they ascend on the heart.

For see, I am making a new heaven and a new earth: and the past things will be gone completely out of mind.

18 But rejoice, and rejoice forever, that I [am] Creator, For behold, I am creating Jerusalem [to be] a rejoicing, And her people a joy.

But men will be glad and have joy for ever in what I am making; for I am making Jerusalem a delight, and her people a joy.

19 And I have rejoiced in Jerusalem, And have rejoiced in My people, And the voice of weeping is not heard in her anymore, and the voice of crying.

And I will be glad over Jerusalem, and have joy in my people: and the voice of weeping will no longer be sounding in her, or the voice of grief.

20 There is not a suckling of [mere] days there anymore, And an aged man who does not complete his days, For the youth dies one hundred years old, And the sinner, one hundred years old, is lightly esteemed.

No longer will there be there a child whose days are cut short, or an old man whose days have not come to their full measure: for the young man at his death will be a hundred years old, and he whose life is shorter than a hundred years will seem as one cursed.

21 And they have built houses, and inhabited, And planted vineyards, and eaten their fruit.

And they will be building houses and living in them; planting vine-gardens and getting the fruit of them.

22 They do not build, and another inhabit, They do not plant, and another eat, For as the days of a tree [are] the days of My people, And My chosen wear out the work of their hands.

They will no longer be building for the use of others, or planting for others to have the fruit: for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my loved ones will have joy in full measure in the work of their hands.

23 They do not labor for a vain thing, Nor do they bring forth for trouble, For they [are] the seed of the blessed of YHWH, And their offspring with them.

Their work will not be for nothing, and they will not give birth to children for destruction; for they are a seed to whom the Lord has given his blessing, and their offspring will be with them.

24 And it has come to pass, They do not yet call, and I answer, They are yet speaking, and I hear.

And before they make their request I will give an answer, and while they are still making prayer to me, I will give ear.

25 Wolf and lamb feed as one, And a lion eats straw as an ox, As for the serpent—its food [is] dust, They do no evil, nor destroy, In all My holy mountain,” said YHWH!

The wolf and the lamb will take their food together, and the lion will make a meal of grass like the ox: but dust will be the snake's food. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.