Isaiah 65

¹I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said , Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name .

²I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people , who walk in a way that is not good , following their own devices ;

³a people who provoke me to my face continually , sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks ;

⁴who sit in tombs , and spend the night in secret places ; who eat pig’s flesh , and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels ;

⁵who say , Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you. These are a smoke in my nostrils , a fire that burns all the day .

⁶Behold , it is written before me: I will not keep silent , but I will repay ; I will indeed repay into their lap

⁷both your iniquities and your fathers ’ iniquities together , says the Lord; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills , I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds .

⁸Thus says the Lord: As the new wine is found in the cluster , and they say , Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it, so I will do for my servants ’ sake , and not destroy them all .

⁹I will bring forth offspring from Jacob , and from Judah possessors of my mountains ; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there .

¹⁰Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks , and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down , for my people who have sought me.

¹¹But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain , who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny ,

¹²I will destine you to the sword , and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter , because , when I called , you did not answer ; when I spoke , you did not listen , but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in .

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God: 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 put to shame ;

¹⁴behold , my servants shall sing for gladness of heart , but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit .

¹⁵You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse , and the Lord God will put you to death , but his servants he will call by another name .

¹⁶So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth , and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth ; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes .

¹⁷For behold , I create new heavens and a new earth , and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind .

¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create ; for behold , I create Jerusalem to be a joy , and her people to be a gladness .

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people ; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress .

²⁰No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days , or an old man who does not fill out his days , for the young man shall die a hundred years old , and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed .

²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit .

²²They shall not build and another inhabit ; they shall not plant and another eat ; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands .

²³They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity , for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.

²⁴Before they call I will answer ; while they are yet speaking I will hear .

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall graze together ; the lion shall eat straw like the ox , and dust shall be the serpent’s food . They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain , says the Lord.