Isaiah 65

1I let myself be sought by those who did not ask; I let myself be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name.

2I spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own thoughts.

3the people who continually provoke me to my face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on the bricks.

4who sit among the graves and spend the night in hidden places, who eat pig's flesh, and broth of unclean things is in their vessels;

5who say, ‘Keep to yourself; do not come near me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day long.

6Look, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; indeed, I will repay into their lap.

7your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, says Yahweh, because they burned incense on the mountains and reproached me on the hills; so I will measure their former deed into their lap.

8Thus says Yahweh: As when new wine is found in a cluster, and one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will act for the sake of my servants, so as not to destroy all of them.

9And I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of my mountains; my chosen ones will possess it, and my servants will dwell there.

10Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for cattle, for my people who have sought me.

11But you are those who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Gad, and who fill mixed wine for Meni.

12And I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will bow down for the slaughter, because I called and you did not answer; I spoke and you did not listen. And you did what was evil in my eyes, and chose what I did not delight in.

13Therefore 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.

14Look, my servants will sing for gladness of heart, but you will cry out from pain of heart, and from a broken spirit you will wail.

15You will leave your name as a curse for my chosen ones, and the Lord Yahweh will put you to death; but to his servants he will call another name.

16whoever blesses himself in the land will bless himself by the God of truth, and whoever swears in the land will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.

17For behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for behold, I am creating Jerusalem as rejoicing, and her people as joy.

19I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people; no longer will the sound of weeping be heard in her, or the sound of crying.

20No more shall there be from there an infant of days, or an old man who does not fill out his days; for the youth will die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old will be accursed.

21They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22They will not build and another inhabit; they will not plant and another eat. For the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.

23They will not labor for emptiness, nor bear children for calamity, for they are the offspring of those blessed by Yahweh, and their descendants with them.

24And it will happen that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

25The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the cattle; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or destruction on all my holy mountain," says Yahweh.