Isaiah 64:1-65:12

English Standard Version

64 ^(A)Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    ^(B)that the mountains might quake at your presence—
²^[a] as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
^(C)to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
³^(D)When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
⁴^(E)From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
^(F)no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
⁵You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?^[b]
⁶^(G)We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
^(H)We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
⁷^(I)There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in^[c] the hand of our iniquities.

⁸^(J)But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    ^(K)we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    ^(L)we are all the work of your hand.
⁹^(M)Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
    ^(N)and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.
¹⁰^(O)Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.
¹¹^(P)Our holy and beautiful^[d] house,
    where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
¹²^(Q)Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Judgment and Salvation

65 ^(R)I was ready to be sought by ^(S)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^[e] my name.
²^(T)I 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,
^(U)sacrificing in gardens
    and making offerings on bricks;
⁴who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
^(V)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.”
^(W)These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
⁶Behold, ^(X)it is written before me:
    ^(Y)“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
^(Z)I will indeed repay into their lap
⁷    both your iniquities ^(AA)and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
^(AB)because they made offerings on the mountains
    ^(AC)and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
    payment for their former deeds.”^[f]

⁸Thus says the Lord:
^(AD)“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,
    ^(AE)and not destroy them all.
⁹^(AF)I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
    and my servants shall dwell there.
¹⁰^(AG)Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
    and ^(AH)the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people ^(AI)who have sought me.
¹¹But ^(AJ)you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget ^(AK)my holy mountain,
who ^(AL)set a table for Fortune
    and ^(AM)fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹²I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
^(AN)because, when I called, you did not answer;
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
^(AO)but you did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose what I did not delight in.”