Isaiah 65:1-16 - Judgment And Salvation

¹ "I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; I appeared to those who did not look for me. I said, 'Here I am! Here I am!' to a nation that did not invoke my name. ² I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired. ³ These people continually and blatantly offend me as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards and burn incense on brick altars. ⁴ They sit among the tombs and keep watch all night long. They eat pork, and broth from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans. ⁵ They say, 'Keep to yourself! Don't get near me, for I am holier than you!' These people are like smoke in my nostrils, like a fire that keeps burning all day long. ⁶ Look, I have decreed: I will not keep silent, but will pay them back; I will pay them back exactly what they deserve, ⁷ for your sins and your ancestors' sins," says the Lord. "Because they burned incense on the mountains and offended me on the hills, I will punish them in full measure."

⁸ This is what the Lord says: "When juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes, someone says, 'Don't destroy it, for it contains juice.' So I will do for the sake of my servants -- I will not destroy everyone. ⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land; my servants will live there. ¹⁰ Sharon will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to my people, who seek me. ¹¹ But as for you who abandon the Lord and forget about worshiping at my holy mountain, who prepare a feast for the god called 'Fortune,' and fill up wine jugs for the god called 'Destiny' -- ¹² I predestine you to die by the sword, all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, because I called to you, and you did not respond, I spoke and you did not listen. You did evil before me; you chose to do what displeases me."

¹³ So this is what the sovereign Lord 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 humiliated! ¹⁴ Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ¹⁵ Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. The sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name. ¹⁶ Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them.