65 “I made myself accessible
to those who didn’t ask for me,
I let myself be found
by those who didn’t seek me.
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
to a nation not called by my name.
² I spread out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people
who live in a way that is not good,
who follow their own inclinations;
³ a people who provoke me to my face all the time,
sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks.
⁴ They sit among the graves
and spend the night in caverns;
they eat pig meat
and their pots hold soup made from disgusting things.
⁵ They say, ‘Keep your distance, don’t come near me,
because I am holier than you.’
These are smoke in my nose,
a fire that burns all day!
⁶ See, it is written before me;
I will not be silent until I repay them;
I will repay them to the full,
⁷ your own crimes and those of your ancestors together,”

says Adonai.

“They offered incense on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills.
First I will measure out their wages
and then repay them in full.”

⁸ Here is what Adonai says:
“As when juice is found in a cluster of grapes,
and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
there is still some good in it,’
so I will do likewise for the sake of my servants,
and not destroy them all.
⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Ya‘akov,
heirs of my mountains from Y’hudah;
my chosen ones will possess them,
and my servants will live there.
¹⁰ The Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,
the Akhor Valley a place for cattle to rest,
for my people who have sought me.

¹¹ “But as for you who abandon Adonai,
who forget my holy mountain,
who prepare a table for a Gad, a god of luck,
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Meni, a god of destiny —
¹² I will destine you to the sword,
you will all bow down to be slaughtered;
because when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not hear,
but did what was evil from my point of view
and chose what did not please me.”

¹³ Therefore this is what Adonai Elohim says:

“My servants will eat, while you go hungry;
my servants will drink, while you go thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
while you will be ashamed.
¹⁴ Yes, my servants will sing for joy from their hearts,
but you will cry out from the pain in your heart
and howl from an anguished spirit.
¹⁵ My chosen will use your name as a curse —
‘May Adonai Elohim strike you dead!’
But to his servants he will give another name.
¹⁶ Thus someone on earth who blesses himself
will bless himself by the God of truth,
and someone on earth who swears an oath
will swear by the God of truth;
for past troubles will be forgotten,
hidden from my eyes.

¹⁷ “For, look! I create new heavens
and a new earth;
past things will not be remembered,
they will no more come to mind.
¹⁸ So be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for look! I am making Yerushalayim a joy,
and her people a delight.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Yerushalayim
and take joy in my people.
The sound of weeping will no longer be heard in it,
no longer the sound of crying.
²⁰ No more will babies die in infancy,
no more will an old man die short of his days —
he who dies at a hundred will be thought young,
and at less than a hundred thought cursed.
²¹ They will build houses and live in them,
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They will not build and others live there,
they will not plant and others eat;
for the days of my people
will be like the days of a tree,
and my chosen will themselves enjoy
the use of what they make.
²³ They will not toil in vain
or raise children to be destroyed,
for they are the seed blessed by Adonai;
and their offspring with them.
²⁴ Before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion eat straw like an ox
(but the serpent — its food will be dust).
They will not hurt or destroy
anywhere on my holy mountain,”

says Adonai.