64 If only you would tear the heavens open
and come down,(A)
so that mountains would quake at your presence(B)
just as fire kindles brushwood,
and fire boils water—
to make your name known to your enemies,
so that nations would tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome works(C)
that we did not expect,
you came down,(D)
and the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened to,
no eye has seen any God except you
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him.(E)
You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember you in your ways.
But we have sinned, and you were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?[a]
All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted[b] garment;(F)
all of us wither like a leaf,(G)
and our iniquities(H) carry us away like the wind.
No one calls on your name,
striving to take hold of you.
For you have hidden your face from us(I)
and made us melt because of[c][d] our iniquity.
Yet Lord, you are our Father;(J)
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we all are the work of your hands.(K)
Lord, do not be terribly angry
or remember our iniquity forever.(L)
Please look—all of us are your people!
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.(M)
11 Our holy and beautiful[e] temple,
where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned down,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.(N)
12 Lord, after all this, will you restrain yourself?
Will you keep silent and afflict us severely?(O)

The Lord’s Response

65 “I was sought by those who did not ask;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
to a nation that did not call on[f] my name.(P)
I spread out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people(Q)
who walk in the path that is not good,
following their own thoughts.
These people continually anger me
to my face,
sacrificing in gardens,(R)
burning incense on bricks,
sitting among the graves,
spending nights in secret places,
eating the meat of pigs,(S)
and putting polluted broth in their bowls.[g]
They say, ‘Keep to yourself,
don’t come near me, for I am too holy for you!’
These practices are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
Look, it is written in front of me:
I will not keep silent,(T) but I will repay;(U)
I will repay them fully[h]
for your iniquities and the iniquities(V)
of your[i] ancestors together,”
says the Lord.
“Because they burned incense on the mountains
and reproached me on the hills,(W)
I will reward them fully[j]
for their former deeds.”

The Lord says this:

“As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,
and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it,
for there’s some good[k] in it,’
so I will act because of my servants
and not destroy them all.
I will produce descendants from Jacob,(X)
and heirs to my mountains from Judah;
my chosen(Y) ones will possess it,
and my servants will dwell there.(Z)
10 Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,(AA)
and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,(AB)
for my people who have sought me.(AC)
11 But you who abandon the Lord,
who forget my holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,[l]
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,
because I called and you did not answer,
I spoke and you did not hear;
you did what was evil in my sight
and chose what I did not delight in.”(AD)

13 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:

“Look! My servants will eat,
but you will be hungry.
Look! My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
Look! My servants will rejoice,
but you will be put to shame.
14 Look! My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,
but you will cry out from an anguished heart,
and you will lament out of a broken spirit.
15 You will leave your name behind
as a curse for my chosen ones,(AE)
and the Lord God will kill you;
but he will give his servants another name.(AF)
16 Whoever asks for a blessing in the land
will ask for a blessing by the God of truth,(AG)
and whoever swears in the land
will swear by the God of truth.
For the former troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from my sight.

A New Creation

17 “For I will create new heavens and a new earth;(AH)
the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.
18 Then be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people.
The sound of weeping and crying
will no longer be heard in her.(AI)
20 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live
only a few days,[m]
or an old man not live out his days.
Indeed, the one who dies at a hundred years old
will be mourned as a young man,[n]
and the one who misses a hundred years
will be considered cursed.(AJ)
21 People will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.(AK)
22 They will not build and others live in them;
they will not plant and others eat.
For my people’s lives will be
like the lifetime of a tree.(AL)
My chosen ones will fully enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor without success(AM)
or bear children destined for disaster,
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord
along with their descendants.(AN)
24 Even before they call, I will answer;(AO)
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,[o]
and the lion will eat straw like cattle,(AP)
but the serpent’s food will be dust!(AQ)
They will not do what is evil or destroy
on my entire holy mountain,”(AR)
says the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. 64:5 Lit angry; in them continually and we will be saved; Hb obscure
  2. 64:6 Lit menstrual
  3. 64:7 LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read and delivered us into the hand of
  4. 64:7 Lit melt by the hand of
  5. 64:11 Or glorious; Is 60:7
  6. 65:1 Or that was not called by
  7. 65:3–4 These vv. describe pagan worship.
  8. 65:6 Lit repay into their lap
  9. 65:7 LXX, Syr read for their iniquities and the iniquities of their
  10. 65:7 Lit reward into their lap
  11. 65:8 Or there’s a blessing
  12. 65:11 Pagan gods
  13. 65:20 Lit her, no longer infant of days
  14. 65:20 Lit the youth of a hundred years will die
  15. 65:25 Lit as one

Paul’s Sufferings for Christ

16 I repeat: Let no one consider me a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool so that I can also boast a little. 17 What I am saying in this matter[a] of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but as it were, foolishly. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. 19 For you, being so wise, gladly put up with fools!(A) 20 In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits(B) you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone is arrogant toward you, if someone slaps(C) you in the face. 21 I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!

But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare: 22 Are they Hebrews?(D) So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the descendants of Abraham?(E) So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death.

24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.(F) 25 Three times I was beaten with rods.(G) Once I received a stoning.(H) Three times I was shipwrecked.(I) I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,(J) dangers from my own people,(K) dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.(L) 28 Not to mention[b] other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble,(M) and I do not burn with indignation?

30 If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father(N) of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. 32 In Damascus,(O) a ruler[c] under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. 33 So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.(P)

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Footnotes

  1. 11:17 Or business, or confidence
  2. 11:28 Lit Apart from
  3. 11:32 Gk ethnarches; a leader of an ethnic community

Save with your right hand and answer me
so that those you love may be rescued.(A)

God has spoken in his sanctuary:[a]
“I will celebrate!
I will divide up Shechem.(B)
I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.(C)
Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is my helmet;(D)
Judah is my scepter.(E)
Moab is my washbasin;(F)
I throw my sandal on Edom.(G)
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”(H)

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?(I)
11 God, haven’t you rejected us?
God, you do not march out with our armies.(J)
12 Give us aid against the foe,
for human help is worthless.(K)
13 With God we will perform valiantly;(L)
he will trample our foes.(M)

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Footnotes

  1. 108:7 Or has promised by his holy nature

31 Don’t gaze at wine because it is red,(A)
because it gleams in the cup
and goes down smoothly.(B)
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will say absurd things.[a](C)

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Footnotes

  1. 23:33 Or will speak perversities, or inverted things

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