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Isaiah 64-66 (Listen)

• Isaiah 63
• Isaiah 64–66
• Jeremiah 1

64 pOh that you would rend the heavens and come down,

qthat the mountains might quake at your presence—

2 1 as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

rto make your name known to your adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

3 sWhen you did awesome things that we did not look for,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 tFrom of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

uno eye has seen a God besides you,

who acts for those who wait for him.

5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,

those who remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?2

6 vWe have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

wWe all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 xThere is no one who calls upon your name,

who rouses himself to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have made us melt in3 the hand of our iniquities.

8 yBut now, O Lord, you are our Father;

zwe are the clay, and you are our potter;

awe are all the work of your hand.

9 bBe not so terribly angry, O Lord,

cand remember not iniquity forever.

Behold, please look, we are all your people.

10 dYour holy cities have become a wilderness;

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11 eOur holy and beautiful4 house,

where our fathers praised you,

has been burned by fire,

and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

12 fWill you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Judgment and Salvation

65 gI was ready to be sought by hthose who did not ask for me;

I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that was not called by5 my name.

2 iI spread out my hands all the day

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

3 a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

jsacrificing in gardens

and making offerings on bricks;

4 who sit in tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

kwho eat pig's flesh,

and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;

5 who say, “Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”

lThese are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all the day.

6 Behold, mit is written before me:

n“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

oI will indeed repay into their lap

7 both your iniquities pand your fathers' iniquities together,

says the Lord;

qbecause they made offerings on the mountains

qand insulted me on the hills,

I will measure into their lap

payment for their former deeds.”6

8 Thus says the Lord:

r“As the new wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,’

so I will do for my servants' sake,

sand not destroy them all.

9 tI will bring forth offspring from Jacob,

and from Judah possessors of my mountains;

my chosen shall possess it,

and my servants shall dwell there.

10 uSharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

and vthe Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,

for my people wwho have sought me.

11 But xyou who forsake the Lord,

who forget ymy holy mountain,

who zset a table for Fortune

and zfill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,

12 I will destine you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,

abecause, when I called, you did not answer;

when I spoke, you did not listen,

bbut you did what was evil in my eyes

and chose what I did not delight in.”

13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, cmy servants shall eat,

but you shall be hungry;

behold, my servants shall drink,

but you shall be thirsty;

behold, my servants shall rejoice,

but you shall be put to shame;

14 behold, dmy servants shall sing for gladness of heart,

but you shall cry out for pain of heart

and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

15 You shall leave your name to emy chosen ffor a curse,

and the Lord God will put you to death,

but his servants ghe will call by another name.

16 So that he who hblesses himself in the land

shall bless himself by hthe God of truth,

and he who takes an oath in the land

shall swear by ithe God of truth;

jbecause the former troubles are forgotten

and are hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

17 “For behold, kI create new heavens

and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

18 But be glad and rejoice forever

in that which I create;

for behold, lI create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

19 mI will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

nno more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress.

20 No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

for othe young man shall die a hundred years old,

and pthe sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

21 qThey shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 qThey shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

rfor like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy7 the work of their hands.

23 sThey shall not labor in vain

tor bear children for calamity,8

for uthey shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,

and their descendants with them.

24 vBefore they call I will answer;

wwhile they are yet speaking I will hear.

25 xThe wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

and ydust shall be the serpent's food.

zThey shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.

The Humble and Contrite in Spirit

66 aThus says the Lord:

b“Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?

2 cAll these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be,

declares the Lord.

dBut this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.

3 e“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck;

he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers fpig's blood;

he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

gThese have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations;

4 hI also will choose harsh treatment for them

and bring itheir fears upon them,

jbecause when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke, they did not listen;

kbut they did what was evil in my eyes

and chose that in which I did not delight.”

5 Hear the word of the Lord,

you who tremble at his word:

“Your brothers who hate you

and cast you out for my name's sake

have said, l‘Let the Lord be glorified,

that we may see your joy’;

but it is they who shall be put to shame.

6 “The sound of an uproar from the city!

A sound from the temple!

The sound of the Lord,

mrendering recompense to his enemies!

Rejoice with Jerusalem

7 n“Before she was in labor

she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her

she delivered a son.

8 Who has heard such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?

For nas soon as Zion was in labor

she brought forth her children.

9 Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?”

says the Lord;

“shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?”

says your God.

10 o“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice with her in joy,

all you who mourn over her;

11 that you may nurse and be satisfied

from her consoling breast;

that you may drink deeply with delight

from her glorious abundance.”9

12 For thus says the Lord:

p“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,

and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and qyou shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,

and bounced upon her knees.

13 As one whom his mother comforts,

so rI will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

syour bones shall flourish like the grass;

and tthe hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,

and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.

Final Judgment and Glory of the Lord

15 “For behold, uthe Lord will come in fire,

and vhis chariots like the whirlwind,

to render his anger in fury,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

16 For wby fire xwill the Lord enter into judgment,

and by his sword, with all flesh;

and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

17 y“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, zeating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.

18 “For I know10 their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming11 ato gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them bI will send survivors to the nations, to cTarshish, dPul, and dLud, who draw the bow, to eTubal and eJavan, fto the coastlands far away, gthat have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 hAnd they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations ias an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 jAnd some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

22 “For as kthe new heavens and the new earth

that I make

shall remain before me, says the Lord,

so lshall your offspring and your name remain.

23 mFrom new moon to new moon,

and from Sabbath to Sabbath,

all flesh shall come to worship before me,

declares the Lord.

24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For ntheir worm shall not die, otheir fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

• Isaiah 63
• Isaiah 64–66
• Jeremiah 1