Isaiah
Chapter 65
1 People who did not ask for me are now looking for me; those who did not seek me have found me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name.
2 I have reached out all day to stubborn people who follow their own bad paths and thoughts.
3 A nation that always makes me angry to my face; they offer sacrifices in gardens and burn incense on brick altars.
4 They stay near the graves and sleep in tombs, eat pig meat, and their pots hold disgusting things.
5 They say, “Keep away, don’t come near me, because I am more holy than you.” These people are like irritating smoke in my nose, a fire that keeps burning all day.
6 Look, it is recorded before me: I will not stay quiet, but will pay back, even repay into their lap.
7 Your wrongs, and your ancestors’ wrongs, says God, who worshiped on the mountains and insulted me on the hills: so I will give back their past actions to them.
8 God says, “Like new wine in the grape cluster, and someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it; there’s a blessing in it,’ I will do the same for my servants, so I won’t destroy them all.”
9 I will produce descendants from Jacob, and from Judah someone to inherit my mountains; those I choose will possess it, and my workers will live there.
10 Sharon will be a place for flocks, and the valley of Achor will be a resting place for herds, for my people who have looked for me.
11 But you abandon God, forget my holy hill, set a table for idols, and provide drinks for them.
12 So I will count you for the sword, and all of you will kneel for killing: because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen; instead you did bad things in front of me, and chose what I did not like.
13 So this is what 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 be happy, but you will be ashamed.
14 Look, my servants will sing with happy hearts, but you will cry because your hearts are sad, and you will wail because your spirits are troubled.
15 You will leave your name as a curse for my chosen ones: because God will kill you, and will give his servants a different name.
16 Anyone who asks for a blessing on earth will ask for a blessing from the God of truth. Anyone who makes a promise on earth will promise by the God of truth. The past troubles are forgotten, and they are hidden from my sight.
17 Look, I am making new heavens and a new earth: and the old things will not be remembered or thought about anymore.
18 Be happy and celebrate always because of what I create. Look, I make Jerusalem a place of joy and its people a delight.
19 I will be happy in Jerusalem and delighted with my people. No more will there be the sound of crying or the sound of tears in the city.
20 No babies will die young, nor old people before their time. Everyone will live to be at least 100 years old. But if someone at 100 years old is a sinner, they will be cursed.
21 They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 People won’t build homes for others to live in, or plant for others to eat. Just like trees live long, my people will have long lives and enjoy what they make with their own hands.
23 They will not work for nothing, nor have children for misfortune, because they are the children of God’s blessed ones, and their descendants with them.
24 Before they even ask, I will respond; while they are still talking, I will listen.
25 The wolf and the lamb will eat together, and the lion will eat grass like the ox; the snake will eat dust. They will not harm or ruin anything on my holy mountain, says God.