Judgment and Salvation

65 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
    I was found by those who did not seek me.(A)
To a nation(B) that did not call on my name,(C)
    I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
All day long I have held out my hands
    to an obstinate people,(D)
who walk in ways not good,
    pursuing their own imaginations(E)
a people who continually provoke me
    to my very face,(F)
offering sacrifices in gardens(G)
    and burning incense(H) on altars of brick;
who sit among the graves(I)
    and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,(J)
    and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
    for I am too sacred(K) for you!’
Such people are smoke(L) in my nostrils,
    a fire that keeps burning all day.

“See, it stands written before me:
    I will not keep silent(M) but will pay back(N) in full;
    I will pay it back into their laps(O)
both your sins(P) and the sins of your ancestors,”(Q)
    says the Lord.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
    and defied me on the hills,(R)
I will measure into their laps
    the full payment(S) for their former deeds.”

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New Heavens and a New Earth

17 “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.(A)
The former things will not be remembered,(B)
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice(C) forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem(D) to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice(E) over Jerusalem
    and take delight(F) in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying(G)
    will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant(H) who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;(I)
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses(J) and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.(K)
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,(L)
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,(M)
    so will be the days(N) of my people;
my chosen(O) ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,(P)
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;(Q)
for they will be a people blessed(R) by the Lord,
    they and their descendants(S) with them.
24 Before they call(T) I will answer;(U)
    while they are still speaking(V) I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb(W) will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,(X)
    and dust will be the serpent’s(Y) food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”(Z)
says the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reaches

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