Isaiah 65
1I BECAME manifest to them who inquired not for Me; I was found by them who sought Me not. I said, Behold here I am, to the nation which did not invoke My name.
2I stretched out My hands all the day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people, who were walking not in a good way, but following their own sins.
3This people are provoking Me continually to My face. They will sacrifice in the gardens and burn incense on the tiles to demons which have not an existence.
4They sleep in tombs and in caverns for the purpose of dreaming: they eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of sacrifices; all their vessels are polluted;
5yet they say, Keep at a distance from me; come not near me, for I am clean. This is a smoke which causeth My wrath; a fire is kindled by it every day.
6Behold it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, until I have retributed into their bosom their sins;
7and the sins of their fathers, saith the Lord. They have burned incense on the mounts, and treated Me with scorn on the hills, I will retribute their works into their bosom.
8Thus saith the Lord: as when a good grape is found in the cluster, they will say, Destroy it not, for there is a blessing in it; so will I do for the sake of him who serveth Me; for his sake I will not destroy them all.
9I will indeed bring forth the seed from Jacob; namely, from Juda, and he shall inherit My holy mountain: and My chosen ones and My servants shall inherit and dwell there;
10and there shall be in the forest folds for flocks; and the valley of Achor shall be a resting place of herds, for My people who have sought Me.
11But as for you, who forsake Me and forget My holy mountain, and who prepare a table for the Demon, and fill up a mixed potion for Fortune,
12you I will deliver up to the sword; you shall all bow down to slaughter. Because I called and you answered not: I spake and you would not listen; but did what is evil in My sight; and chose the things in which I did not delight.
13Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold My servants shall eat; but you shall be hungry: behold My servants shall drink; but you shall be thirsty: behold My servants shall rejoice; but you shall be ashamed:
14behold My servants shall triumph with joy: But you shall scream for sorrow of heart, and howl for anguish of spirit.
15For you shall leave your name for a loathing to My chosen. As for you, the Lord will destroy you; but to My servants, a new name shall be given
16which shall be blessed on the earth: for they will bless the true God: and they who swear on the earth, will swear by the true God. For they will forget their former affliction and it shall not recur to their mind:
17for there shall be a new heaven and the earth shall be new: and they shall no more remember former things, nor shall they ever come again into their mind.
18But in this they shall find joy and gladness: for behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a subject of joy, and this people of Mine a subject of rejoicing.
19And I will exult in Jerusalem and rejoice in My people; and there shall no more be heard therein, the voice of wailing nor the sound of a mournful cry.
20Nor shall there any more be an untimely birth there, nor an old man, who shall not complete his term. For he who is a hundred years old shall be young; and the sinner, who dieth at a hundred years, shall be deemed accursed.
21And they shall build houses and dwell therein: and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruits thereof.
22They shall not build, and others inhabit, nor shall they plant and others eat; for according to the days of the tree of that life, shall be the days of this My people: for they shall outlast the works of their toils.
23My chosen ones shall not labour in vain, nor shall they bring forth children for a curse. Because they are a seed blessed of God, both they and their offspring,
24therefore it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer them; and while they are yet speaking I will say, What is the matter.
25Then shall the wolves and the lambs feed together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. But the serpents shall eat dust as bread. They shall not hurt, nor shall they destroy on My holy mountain, saith the Lord.