Add parallel Print Page Options

Judgment and Final Salvation

65 The Lord says,

“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
    I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
    to a nation that did not call on my name.[a]
All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.[b]
    But they follow their own evil paths
    and their own crooked schemes.
All day long they insult me to my face
    by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens.
    They burn incense on pagan altars.
At night they go out among the graves,
    worshiping the dead.
They eat the flesh of pigs
    and make stews with other forbidden foods.
Yet they say to each other,
    ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!
    I am holier than you!’
These people are a stench in my nostrils,
    an acrid smell that never goes away.

“Look, my decree is written out[c] in front of me:
    I will not stand silent;
I will repay them in full!
    Yes, I will repay them—
both for their own sins
    and for those of their ancestors,”
    says the Lord.
“For they also burned incense on the mountains
    and insulted me on the hills.
    I will pay them back in full!

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 65:1 Or to a nation that did not bear my name.
  2. 65:1-2 Greek version reads I was found by people who were not looking for me. / I showed myself to those who were not asking for me. / All day long I opened my arms to them, / but they were disobedient and rebellious. Compare Rom 10:20-21.
  3. 65:6 Or their sins are written out; Hebrew reads it stands written.

65 The Lord says, People[a] who never before inquired about me are now seeking me out. Nations who never before searched for me are finding me.

But my own people—though I have been spreading out my arms to welcome them all day long—have rebelled; they follow their own evil paths and thoughts. All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in many gardens and burning incense on the rooftops of their homes. At night they go out among the graves and caves to worship evil spirits, and they eat pork and other forbidden foods. Yet they say to one another, “Don’t come too close, you’ll defile me! For I am holier than you!” They stifle me. Day in and day out they infuriate me.

See, here is my decree all written out before me: I will not stand silent; I will repay. Yes, I will repay them— not only for their own sins but for those of their fathers too, says the Lord, for they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me upon the hills. I will pay them back in full.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 65:1 People, literally, “those.” Also, Nations. Some believe this verse as well as the next applies to Israelites rather than to the nations. But see Romans 10:20-21.