Isaiah 66
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Final Judgment and Joyous Restoration
66 This is what the Lord says:
Heaven(A) is My throne,(B)
and earth is My footstool.(C)
What house could you possibly build for Me?
And what place could be My home?(D)
2 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.
3 One slaughters an ox, one kills a man;
one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog’s neck;
one offers a grain offering, one offers pig’s blood;
one offers incense, one praises an idol—
all these have chosen their ways
and delight in their detestable practices.(G)
4 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 didn’t hear;
they did what was evil in My sight
and chose what I didn’t delight in.(H)
5 You who tremble at His word,(I)
hear the word of the Lord:(J)
“Your brothers who hate and exclude you
because of Me have said,(K)
‘Let the Lord be glorified
so that we can see your joy!’
But they will be put to shame.”(L)
6 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)
7 Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth;
before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
8 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.
9 “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 flesh(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, and rats, will perish together.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
18 “Knowing[e] 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,[f] Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan,(Y) and the islands far away—who have not heard of My fame 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 endure before Me”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“so your offspring and your name will endure.
23 All mankind 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 the men 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 mankind.”(AG)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 66:2 Lit broken
- Isaiah 66:12 Or glory
- Isaiah 66:14 Lit your bones
- Isaiah 66:17 Hb obscure
- Isaiah 66:18 LXX, Syr; MT omits Knowing
- Isaiah 66:19 LXX; MT reads Pul
Isaiah 66
Lexham English Bible
Proper Worship
66 Thus says Yahweh:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is the footstool for my feet.
Where is this house that you would build for me?
And where is this resting place for me?
2 And my hand has made all these things,
and all these came to be,”[a]
declares[b] Yahweh, “but[c] I look to this one:
to the humble and the contrite of spirit
and the one frightened at my word.
3 The one who slaughters a bull strikes a man;
the one who slaughters a lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck of a dog.
The one who offers an offering, the blood of swine;
the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol.
Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways,
and their soul delights in their abhorrence.
4 Indeed, I myself I will choose their ill treatment,
and I will bring them objects of their dread,
because I called, and no one answered;[d]
I spoke and they did not listen,
but[e] they did the evil in my eyes,
and they chose that in which I do not delight.”
5 Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are frightened at his word:
Your brothers who hate you,
who exclude you for my name’s sake have said,
“Let Yahweh be honored so that[f] we may see your joy!”
But[g] they themselves shall be ashamed.
6 A voice, an uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of Yahweh paying back[h] his enemies!
Zion’s Delivery
7 Before she was in labor she gave birth;
before labor pains[i] came to her, she gave birth to a son.
8 Who has heard anything like this?
Who has seen anything like these things?
Can a land be born in one day?
Or can a nation be born in a moment?
Yet when she was in labor, Zion indeed gave birth to her children.
9 Shall I myself I break open and not deliver?”[j] says Yahweh,
“or I who delivers[k] lock up the womb?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem
and shout in exultation with her, all those who love her!
Rejoice with her in joy, all those who mourn over her,
11 so that you may suck and be satisfied from her consoling breast,[l]
so that you may drink deeply and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”[m]
12 For thus says Yahweh:
“Look! I am about to spread prosperity out to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you shall suck and be carried on the hip;
and you shall you shall be played with on the knees.
13 As a man whose mother comforts him, so I myself will comfort you,
and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Yahweh’s Final Judgment
14 And you shall see and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones shall flourish[n] like the grass,
and the hand of Yahweh shall make itself known to[o] his servants,
and he shall curse his enemies.
15 For look! Yahweh will come in fire,
and his chariots like the storm wind,
to give back[p] his anger in wrath,
and his rebuke in flames of fire.
16 For Yahweh enters into judgment on all flesh with fire and his sword,
and those slain by[q] Yahweh shall be many.
17 Those who sanctify themselves
and those who cleanse themselves to go into[r] the gardens after the one in the middle,
eating the flesh of swine
and detestable things[s] and rodents[t] together
shall come to an end!” declares[u] Yahweh.
18 “And I—their works and thoughts!—am about to come to gather all nations and tongues,
and they shall come and see my glory.
19 And I will set a sign among them,
and I will send survivors from them to the nations:
Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow;
Tubal and Javan, the faraway coastlands
that have not heard of my fame,
and have not seen my glory.
And they shall declare my glory among the nations, 20 and bring all your countrymen[v] from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh on horses and chariots[w] and in litters and on mules and camels, to[x] my holy mountain,[y] Jerusalem,” says Yahweh, “just as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh. 21 And indeed, I will take some of them as priests and the Levites,” says Yahweh. 22 “For just as the new heavens and earth that I am about to make shall stand before me,” declares[z] Yahweh, “so shall your descendants[aa] and your name stand.
23 And this shall happen: From new moon to new moon[ab] and from Sabbath to Sabbath[ac] all flesh shall come to bow in worship before me,” says Yahweh. 24 “And they shall go out and look at the corpses of the people[ad] who have rebelled[ae] against me,
for their worm shall not die,
and their fire shall not be quenched,
and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 66:2 Literally “were”
- Isaiah 66:2 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 66:2 Or “and”
- Isaiah 66:4 Literally “there was no one who answers”
- Isaiah 66:4 Or “and”
- Isaiah 66:5 Or “and”
- Isaiah 66:5 Or “And”
- Isaiah 66:6 Literally “rewarding retribution to”
- Isaiah 66:7 Hebrew “pain”
- Isaiah 66:9 Literally “cause to bring forth”
- Isaiah 66:9 Literally “causes to bring forth”
- Isaiah 66:11 Literally “breast of consolation”
- Isaiah 66:11 Literally “breast of heaviness “
- Isaiah 66:14 Literally “sprout”
- Isaiah 66:14 Literally “with”
- Isaiah 66:15 Literally “cause to turn around”
- Isaiah 66:16 Literally “the slain of”
- Isaiah 66:17 Literally “toward”
- Isaiah 66:17 Hebrew “thing”
- Isaiah 66:17 Hebrew “rodent”
- Isaiah 66:17 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 66:20 Or “brothers”
- Isaiah 66:20 Hebrew “chariot”
- Isaiah 66:20 Or “on”
- Isaiah 66:20 Literally “the mountain of holiness me”
- Isaiah 66:22 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 66:22 Hebrew “descendant”
- Isaiah 66:23 Literally “enough of new moon in his new moon”
- Isaiah 66:23 Literally “enough of Sabbath in his Sabbath”
- Isaiah 66:24 Or “men”
- Isaiah 66:24 Literally “rebelling”
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