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Isaiah 64-66
English Standard Version
Isaiah 64-66
English Standard Version
64 (A)Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
(B)that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 [a] as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
(C)to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 (D)When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 (E)From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
(F)no 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?[b]
6 (G)We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
(H)We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 (I)There 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 in[c] the hand of our iniquities.
8 (J)But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
(K)we are the clay, and you are our potter;
(L)we are all the work of your hand.
9 (M)Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
(N)and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 (O)Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 (P)Our holy and beautiful[d] house,
where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 (Q)Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
Judgment and Salvation
65 (R)I was ready to be sought by (S)those 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 by[e] my name.
2 (T)I 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,
(U)sacrificing in gardens
and making offerings on bricks;
4 who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
(V)who 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.”
(W)These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, (X)it is written before me:
(Y)“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
(Z)I will indeed repay into their lap
7 both your iniquities (AA)and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
(AB)because they made offerings on the mountains
(AC)and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
payment for their former deeds.”[f]
8 Thus says the Lord:
(AD)“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,
(AE)and not destroy them all.
9 (AF)I 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 (AG)Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and (AH)the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people (AI)who have sought me.
11 But (AJ)you who forsake the Lord,
who forget (AK)my holy mountain,
who (AL)set a table for Fortune
and (AM)fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
(AN)because, when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not listen,
(AO)but you did what was evil in my eyes
and chose what I did not delight in.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, (AP)my 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, (AQ)my 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 (AR)my chosen (AS)for a curse,
and the Lord God will put you to death,
but his servants (AT)he will call by another name,
16 so that he who (AU)blesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by (AV)the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by (AW)the God of truth;
(AX)because the former troubles are forgotten
and are hidden from my eyes.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17 “For behold, (AY)I 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, (AZ)I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
19 (BA)I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
(BB)no 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 (BC)the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and (BD)the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 (BE)They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 (BF)They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
(BG)for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy[g] the work of their hands.
23 (BH)They shall not labor in vain
(BI)or bear children for calamity,[h]
for (BJ)they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
24 (BK)Before they call I will answer;
(BL)while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 (BM)The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and (BN)dust shall be the serpent's food.
(BO)They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
The Humble and Contrite in Spirit
66 (BP)Thus says the Lord:
(BQ)“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 (BR)All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
(BS)But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
3 (BT)“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 (BU)pig's blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
(BV)These have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
4 (BW)I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and bring (BX)their fears upon them,
(BY)because when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
(BZ)but 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, (CA)‘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,
(CB)rendering recompense to his enemies!
Rejoice with Jerusalem
7 (CC)“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 (CD)as 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 (CE)“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.”[i]
12 For thus says the Lord:
(CF)“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and (CG)you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and bounced upon her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts,
so (CH)I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
(CI)your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and (CJ)the 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, (CK)the Lord will come in fire,
and (CL)his chariots like the whirlwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For (CM)by fire (CN)will the Lord enter into judgment,
and by his sword, with all flesh;
and those slain by the Lord shall be many.
17 (CO)“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, (CP)eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.
18 “For I know[j] their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming[k] (CQ)to 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 (CR)I will send survivors to the nations, to (CS)Tarshish, (CT)Pul, and (CU)Lud, who draw the bow, to (CV)Tubal and (CW)Javan, (CX)to the coastlands far away, (CY)that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 (CZ)And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations (DA)as 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 (DB)And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.
22 “For as (DC)the new heavens and the new earth
that I make
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
so (DD)shall your offspring and your name remain.
23 (DE)From 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 (DF)their worm shall not die, (DG)their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
- Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
- Isaiah 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
- Isaiah 64:11 Or holy and glorious
- Isaiah 65:1 Or that did not call upon
- Isaiah 65:7 Or I will first measure their payment into their lap
- Isaiah 65:22 Hebrew shall wear out
- Isaiah 65:23 Or for sudden terror
- Isaiah 66:11 Or breast
- Isaiah 66:18 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew lacks know
- Isaiah 66:18 Hebrew and it is coming
Isaiah 64-66
New International Version
Isaiah 64-66
New International Version
64 [a]Oh, that you would rend the heavens(A) and come down,(B)
that the mountains(C) would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name(D) known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake(E) before you!
3 For when you did awesome(F) things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled(G) before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,(H)
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.(I)
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,(J)
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.(K)
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,(L)
and all our righteous(M) acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,(N)
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.(O)
7 No one(P) calls on your name(Q)
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden(R) your face from us
and have given us over(S) to[b] our sins.
8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.(T)
We are the clay, you are the potter;(U)
we are all the work of your hand.(V)
9 Do not be angry(W) beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins(X) forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.(Y)
10 Your sacred cities(Z) have become a wasteland;
even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.(AA)
11 Our holy and glorious temple,(AB) where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire,
and all that we treasured(AC) lies in ruins.
12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back?(AD)
Will you keep silent(AE) and punish us beyond measure?
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.(AF)
To a nation(AG) that did not call on my name,(AH)
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2 All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,(AI)
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations(AJ)—
3 a people who continually provoke me
to my very face,(AK)
offering sacrifices in gardens(AL)
and burning incense(AM) on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves(AN)
and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,(AO)
and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
for I am too sacred(AP) for you!’
Such people are smoke(AQ) in my nostrils,
a fire that keeps burning all day.
6 “See, it stands written before me:
I will not keep silent(AR) but will pay back(AS) in full;
I will pay it back into their laps(AT)—
7 both your sins(AU) and the sins of your ancestors,”(AV)
says the Lord.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
and defied me on the hills,(AW)
I will measure into their laps
the full payment(AX) for their former deeds.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes(AY)
and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
there is still a blessing in it,’
so will I do in behalf of my servants;(AZ)
I will not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants(BA) from Jacob,
and from Judah those who will possess(BB) my mountains;
my chosen(BC) people will inherit them,
and there will my servants live.(BD)
10 Sharon(BE) will become a pasture for flocks,(BF)
and the Valley of Achor(BG) a resting place for herds,
for my people who seek(BH) me.
11 “But as for you who forsake(BI) the Lord
and forget my holy mountain,(BJ)
who spread a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine(BK) for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword,(BL)
and all of you will fall in the slaughter;(BM)
for I called but you did not answer,(BN)
I spoke but you did not listen.(BO)
You did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me.”(BP)
13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“My servants will eat,(BQ)
but you will go hungry;(BR)
my servants will drink,(BS)
but you will go thirsty;(BT)
my servants will rejoice,(BU)
but you will be put to shame.(BV)
14 My servants will sing(BW)
out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out(BX)
from anguish of heart
and wail in brokenness of spirit.
15 You will leave your name
for my chosen ones to use in their curses;(BY)
the Sovereign Lord will put you to death,
but to his servants he will give another name.(BZ)
16 Whoever invokes a blessing(CA) in the land
will do so by the one true God;(CB)
whoever takes an oath in the land
will swear(CC) by the one true God.
For the past troubles(CD) will be forgotten
and hidden from my eyes.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17 “See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.(CE)
The former things will not be remembered,(CF)
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice(CG) forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem(CH) to be a delight
and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice(CI) over Jerusalem
and take delight(CJ) in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying(CK)
will be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there be in it
an infant(CL) who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;(CM)
the one who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[c] a hundred
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses(CN) and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.(CO)
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,(CP)
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,(CQ)
so will be the days(CR) of my people;
my chosen(CS) ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,(CT)
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;(CU)
for they will be a people blessed(CV) by the Lord,
they and their descendants(CW) with them.
24 Before they call(CX) I will answer;(CY)
while they are still speaking(CZ) I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb(DA) will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,(DB)
and dust will be the serpent’s(DC) food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”(DD)
says the Lord.
Judgment and Hope
66 This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne,(DE)
and the earth is my footstool.(DF)
Where is the house(DG) you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
2 Has not my hand made all these things,(DH)
and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.
“These are the ones I look on with favor:
those who are humble and contrite in spirit,(DI)
and who tremble at my word.(DJ)
3 But whoever sacrifices a bull(DK)
is like one who kills a person,
and whoever offers a lamb
is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
is like one who presents pig’s(DL) blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense(DM)
is like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,(DN)
and they delight in their abominations;(DO)
4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and will bring on them what they dread.(DP)
For when I called, no one answered,(DQ)
when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil(DR) in my sight
and chose what displeases me.”(DS)
5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at his word:(DT)
“Your own people who hate(DU) you,
and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the Lord be glorified,
that we may see your joy!’
Yet they will be put to shame.(DV)
6 Hear that uproar from the city,
hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound(DW) of the Lord
repaying(DX) his enemies all they deserve.
7 “Before she goes into labor,(DY)
she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
she delivers a son.(DZ)
8 Who has ever heard of such things?
Who has ever seen(EA) things like this?
Can a country be born in a day(EB)
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
than she gives birth to her children.(EC)
9 Do I bring to the moment of birth(ED)
and not give delivery?” says the Lord.
“Do I close up the womb
when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice(EE) with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love(EF) her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn(EG) over her.
11 For you will nurse(EH) and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;(EI)
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance.”(EJ)
12 For this is what the Lord says:
“I will extend peace(EK) to her like a river,(EL)
and the wealth(EM) of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried(EN) on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
13 As a mother comforts her child,(EO)
so will I comfort(EP) you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice(EQ)
and you will flourish(ER) like grass;
the hand(ES) of the Lord will be made known to his servants,(ET)
but his fury(EU) will be shown to his foes.
15 See, the Lord is coming with fire,(EV)
and his chariots(EW) are like a whirlwind;(EX)
he will bring down his anger with fury,
and his rebuke(EY) with flames of fire.
16 For with fire(EZ) and with his sword(FA)
the Lord will execute judgment(FB) on all people,
and many will be those slain(FC) by the Lord.
17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens,(FD) following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs,(FE) rats(FF) and other unclean things—they will meet their end(FG) together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord.
18 “And I, because of what they have planned and done,(FH) am about to come[d] and gather the people of all nations(FI) and languages, and they will come and see my glory.(FJ)
19 “I will set a sign(FK) among them, and I will send some of those who survive(FL) to the nations—to Tarshish,(FM) to the Libyans[e] and Lydians(FN) (famous as archers), to Tubal(FO) and Greece,(FP) and to the distant islands(FQ) that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.(FR) They will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 And they will bring(FS) all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain(FT) in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,”(FU) says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels.(FV) 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests(FW) and Levites,” says the Lord.
22 “As the new heavens and the new earth(FX) that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure.(FY) 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath(FZ) to another, all mankind will come and bow down(GA) before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies(GB) of those who rebelled(GC) against me; the worms(GD) that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched,(GE) and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:1 In Hebrew texts 64:1 is numbered 63:19b, and 64:2-12 is numbered 64:1-11.
- Isaiah 64:7 Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew have made us melt because of
- Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reaches
- Isaiah 66:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Isaiah 66:19 Some Septuagint manuscripts Put (Libyans); Hebrew Pul
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.