Final Judgment and Joyous Restoration

66 This is what the Lord says:

Heaven(A) is my throne,(B)
and earth is my footstool.(C)
Where could you possibly build a house for me?
And where would my resting place be?(D)
My hand made all these things,
and so they all came into being.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will look favorably on this kind of person:
one who is humble,(E) submissive[a] in spirit,(F)
and trembles at my word.
One person slaughters an ox, another kills a person;
one person sacrifices a lamb, another breaks a dog’s neck;
one person offers a grain offering, another offers pig’s blood;
one person offers incense, another praises an idol—
all these have chosen their ways
and delight in their abhorrent practices.(G)
So I will choose their punishment,
and I will bring on them what they dread
because I called and no one answered;
I spoke and they did not listen;
they did what was evil in my sight
and chose what I did not delight in.(H)
You who tremble at his word,(I)
hear the word of the Lord:(J)
“Your brothers who hate and exclude you
for my name’s sake have said,(K)
‘Let the Lord be glorified
so that we can see your joy!’
But they will be put to shame.”(L)
A sound of uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple—
the voice of the Lord,
paying back his enemies what they deserve!(M)
Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth;
before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Can a land be born in one day
or a nation be delivered in an instant?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor,
she gave birth to her sons.
“Will I bring a baby to the point of birth
and not deliver it?”
says the Lord;
“or will I who deliver, close the womb?”
says your God.
10 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,
all who love her.(N)
Rejoice greatly with her,
all who mourn over her—
11 so that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her comforting breast
and drink deeply and delight yourselves
from her glorious breasts.

12 For this is what the Lord says:

I will make peace flow to her like a river,(O)
and the wealth[b] of nations like a flood;(P)
you will nurse and be carried on her hip(Q)
and bounced on her lap.
13 As a mother comforts her son,
so I will comfort you,(R)
and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
14 You will see, you will rejoice,
and you[c] will flourish like grass;(S)
then the Lord’s power will be revealed to his servants,
but he will show his wrath against his enemies.
15 Look, the Lord will come with fire(T)
his chariots are like the whirlwind(U)
to execute his anger with fury
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For the Lord will execute judgment
on all humanity(V) with his fiery sword,
and many will be slain by the Lord.

17 “Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves(W) following their leader,[d] eating meat from pigs, vermin,[e] and rats, will perish together.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

18 “Knowing[f] their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages;(X) they will come and see my glory. 19 I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put,[g] Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan,(Y) and the coasts and islands far away—who have not heard about me or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations.(Z) 20 They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,”(AA) says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,”(AB) says the Lord.

22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth,(AC)
which I will make,
will remain before me”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“so your offspring and your name will remain.
23 All humanity will come to worship me
from one New Moon to another
and from one Sabbath to another,”
says the Lord.

24 “As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me;(AD) for their worm(AE) will never die, their fire will never go out,(AF) and they will be a horror to all humanity.”(AG)

Footnotes

  1. 66:2 Lit broken
  2. 66:12 Or glory
  3. 66:14 Lit your bones
  4. 66:17 Hb obscure
  5. 66:17 Lit abhorrent things
  6. 66:18 LXX, Syr; MT omits Knowing
  7. 66:19 LXX; MT reads Pul

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20 In those days(A) Hezekiah became terminally ill.(B) The prophet Isaiah(C) son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”(D)

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall(E) and prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, remember(F) how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.”[a](G) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.(H)

Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader(I) of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;(J) I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”(K)

Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.(L)

Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign(M) that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day?”

Isaiah said, “This is the sign(N) to you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps?”

10 Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.” 11 So the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow[b] back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.[c](O)

Hezekiah’s Folly

12 At that time(P) Merodach-baladan[d] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.(Q)

14 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”

15 Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: 17 ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’(R) says the Lord. 18 ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away,(S) and they will become eunuchs[e] in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”(T)

19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,”(U) for he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?”

Hezekiah’s Death

20 The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool(V) and the tunnel and brought water into the city,(W) are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(X) 21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.(Y)

Judah’s King Manasseh

21 Manasseh(Z) was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.(AA) He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,(AB) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(AC) He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed(AD) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,(AE) as King Ahab of Israel had done;(AF) he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky(AG) and served them. He built altars in the Lord’s temple,(AH) where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”(AI) He built altars to all the stars in the sky(AJ) in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.(AK) He sacrificed his son in the fire,[f](AL) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.(AM) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.(AN)

Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.(AO) I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”(AP) But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.(AQ)

10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets, 11 “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts(AR)—worse evil than the Amorites(AS) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, 12 this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.[g](AT) 13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,(AU) and I will wipe(AV) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will abandon the remnant(AW) of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”(AX)

16 Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.(AY) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Manasseh’s Death

17 The rest(AZ) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(BA) 18 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amon

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king,(BB) and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. 20 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.(BC) 21 He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he bowed in worship to them.(BD) 22 He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors(BE) and did not walk in the ways of the Lord.(BF)

23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.(BG) 24 The common people[h] killed(BH) all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah(BI) king in his place.

25 The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. 26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Footnotes

  1. 20:3 Lit what is good in your eyes
  2. 20:11 Lit shadow on the steps
  3. 20:11 Tg, Vg; DSS read on the steps of Ahaz’s roof chamber; Is 38:8
  4. 20:12 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Tg, some Vg mss, Is 39:1; other Hb mss read Berodach-baladan
  5. 20:18 Or court officials
  6. 21:6 Lit He made his son pass through the fire
  7. 21:12 Lit about it, his two ears will tingle; Hb obscure
  8. 21:24 Lit The people of the land

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