ISAIAH 65 [†]  g I was ready to be sought by  h 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 [1] my name.

2  i 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,

 j sacrificing in gardens

and making offerings on bricks;

4 who sit in tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

 k 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.”

 l These are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all the day.

6[†] Behold,  m it is written before me:

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

 o I will indeed repay into their lap

7 both your iniquities  p and your fathers’ iniquities together,

says the LORD;

 q because they made offerings on the mountains

 q and insulted me on the hills,

I will measure into their lap

payment for their former deeds.” [2]

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,

 s and not destroy them all.

9[^]  t 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  u Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

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

for my people  w who have sought me.

11[†] But  x you who forsake the LORD,

who forget  y my holy mountain,

who  z set a table for Fortune

and  z 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,

 a because, when I called, you did not answer;

when I spoke, you did not listen,

 b 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,  c 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,  d 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  e my chosen  f for a curse,

and the Lord GOD will put you to death,

but his servants  g he will call by another name.

16[†] So that he who  h blesses himself in the land

shall bless himself by  h the God of truth,

and he who takes an oath in the land

shall swear by  i the God of truth;

 j because the former troubles are forgotten

and are hidden from my eyes.

17[^][†] “For behold,  k 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,  l I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

19  m I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

 n 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  o the young man shall die a hundred years old,

and  p the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

21  q They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22[†]  q They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

 r for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy [3] the work of their hands.

23  s They shall not labor in vain

 t or bear children for calamity, [4]

for  u they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,

and their descendants with them.

24  v Before they call I will answer;

 w while they are yet speaking I will hear.

25[†]  x The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

and  y dust shall be the serpent’s food.

 z They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,”

says the LORD.