Isaiah 65

¹I became manifest to them that asked not for me; I was found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold, I am here, to a nation, who called not on my name.

²I have stretched forth my hands all day to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to them that walked in a way that was not good, but after their sins.

³This is the people that provokes me continually in my presence; they offer sacrifices in gardens, and burn incense on bricks to devils, which exist not.

⁴They lie down to sleep in the tombs and in the caves for the sake of dreams, even they that eat swine's flesh, and the broth of their sacrifices: all their vessels are defiled:

⁵who say, Depart from me, draw not nigh to me, for I am pure. This is the smoke of my wrath, a fire burns with it continually.

⁶Behold, it is written before me: I will not be silent until I have recompensed into their bosom,

⁷their sins and the sins of their fathers, saith the Lord, who have burnt incense on the mountains, and reproached me on the hills: I will recompense their works into their bosom.

⁸Thus saith the Lord, As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his sake I will not destroy them all.

⁹And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of Juda, and they shall inherit my holy mountain: and mine elect and my servants shall inherit it, and shall dwell there.

¹⁰And there shall be in the forest folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor shall be for a resting-place of herds for my people, who have sought me.

¹¹But ye are they that have left me, and forget my holy mountain, and prepare a table for the devil, and fill up the drink-offering to Fortune.

¹²I will deliver you up to the sword, ye shall all fall by slaughter: for I called you, and ye hearkened not; I spoke, and ye refused to hear; and ye did evil in my sight, and chose the things wherein I delighted not.

¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall hunger: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall thirst: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

¹⁴behold, my servants shall exult with joy, but ye shall cry for the sorrow of your heart, and shall howl for the vexation of your spirit.

¹⁵For ye shall leave your name for a loathing to my chosen, and the Lord shall destroy you: but my servants shall be called by a new name,

¹⁶which shall be blessed on the earth; for they shall bless the true God: and they that swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God; for they shall forget the former affliction, and it shall not come into their mind.

¹⁷For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth: and they shall not at all remember the former, neither shall they at all come into their mind.

¹⁸But they shall find in her joy and exultation; for, behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy.

¹⁹And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and will be glad in my people: and there shall no more be heard in her the voice of weeping, or the voice of crying.

²⁰Neither shall there be there any more a child that dies untimely, or an old man who shall not complete his time: for the youth shall be a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies at a hundred years shall also be accursed:

²¹and they shall build houses, and themselves shall dwell in them; and they shall plant vineyards, and themselves shall eat the fruit thereof.

²²They shall by no means build, and others inhabit; and they shall by no means plant, and others eat: for as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people, they shall long enjoy the fruits of their labours.

²³My chosen shall not toil in vain, neither shall they beget children to be cursed; for they are a seed blessed of God, and their offspring with them.

²⁴And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hearken to them; while they are yet speaking, I will say, What is it?

²⁵Then wolves and lambs shall feed together, and the lion shall eat chaff like the ox, and the serpent earth as bread. They shall not injure nor destroy in my holy mountain, saith the Lord.