The Prophets · Old Testament
Isaiah 65
Isaiah 65: the Lord answers a rebellious people and creates new heavens and a new earth
General context
The Lord says he is sought by those who did not ask for him and found by those who did not seek him. He has spread out his hands all day to a rebellious people who walk after their own thoughts, provoke him to his face, sacrifice in gardens, burn incense on brick altars, sit among graves, eat swine's flesh, and tell others to stand back because they are holier. They are smoke in his nose; it is written before him, and he will repay their iniquities and their fathers' iniquities into their bosom. But as new wine in a cluster is spared because a blessing is in it, he will spare for his servants' sakes and not destroy them all; he will bring a seed out of Jacob and Judah to inherit his mountains, and Sharon and the valley of Achor will be pasture for those who sought him. Those who forsake him and set a table for that troop will be numbered to the sword, because when he called they did not answer. He sets his servants against them: his servants will eat, drink, rejoice and sing while they hunger, thirst, are ashamed and howl; their name will be left as a curse and his servants called by another name. He creates new heavens and a new earth, and Jerusalem a rejoicing; weeping will not be heard in her, no infant will die young, a child will die a hundred years old, people will build and inhabit and plant and eat, and not labour in vain. Before they call he will answer. The wolf and lamb will feed together, the lion eat straw, dust be the serpent's food, and nothing will hurt or destroy in his holy mountain.
Cited passages: Isaiah 65:1, Isaiah 65:2, Isaiah 65:3, Isaiah 65:4, Isaiah 65:5, Isaiah 65:7, Isaiah 65:8, Isaiah 65:9, Isaiah 65:10, Isaiah 65:11, Isaiah 65:12, Isaiah 65:13, Isaiah 65:14, Isaiah 65:15, Isaiah 65:16, Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 65:18, Isaiah 65:19, Isaiah 65:20, Isaiah 65:21, Isaiah 65:23, Isaiah 65:24, Isaiah 65:25
Isaiah 65 (KJV)
1I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
2I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
3A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
4Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
6Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
7Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
8Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
9And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
10And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
11But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
12Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
13Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
14Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
15And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
16That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
24And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.
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Historical context
The Lord speaks throughout, marked by saith the Lord and thus saith the Lord God, and the chapter reads as the answer to the prayer of chapters 63 and 64, which ended by asking whether he would hold his peace; he replies I will not keep silence. The rebellious people are not named as a nation in the opening verses, though the seed to be spared is from Jacob and Judah, and Sharon and the valley of Achor are named as pasture without further description. The practices charged, sacrifice in gardens, incense on brick altars, lodging among graves, eating swine's flesh, are listed as accusations, not explained. That troop and that number, for whom a table and drink offering are prepared, are left unnamed in the text. The chapter divides its hearers into my servants and ye, and states the fate of the second group plainly: numbered to the sword, slain, their name left as a curse. The new heavens and new earth are announced as the Lord's creation, with Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and the text's picture includes death at a hundred years rather than no death. Later, Romans quotes the opening verses by name, Esaias is very bold, and applies the second verse to Israel; 2 Peter and Revelation later speak of new heavens and a new earth. Those are later citations only.
Cited passages: Isaiah 65:7, Isaiah 65:13, Isaiah 64:12, Isaiah 65:6, Isaiah 65:9, Isaiah 65:10, Isaiah 65:11, Isaiah 65:12, Isaiah 65:15, Isaiah 65:20, Romans 10:20, Romans 10:21, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1
Literary context
The chapter answers the prayer's complaint that the Lord hid his face with a picture of hands spread out all day to a people who walked away, so the silence is reassigned. The indictment is a catalogue of places, gardens, brick altars, graves, monuments, mountains, hills, and it ends in the accused's own words, I am holier than thou, which the Lord calls smoke in his nose. The turn comes with a proverb about a cluster of grapes and the words Destroy it not, which introduce a distinction the rest of the chapter works out: my servants against ye. Verses 13 and 14 set the two groups in four parallel lines, each beginning Behold, eat against hungry, drink against thirsty, rejoice against ashamed, sing against howl. The reason, when I called, ye did not answer, is reversed at the end, before they call, I will answer, and the next chapter repeats the charge. The new creation is described by what is absent, no weeping, no infant of days, no building for another to inhabit, no labour in vain, and closes with the wolf and lamb feeding together and the serpent left with dust, so that harm is removed from the holy mountain the accused had forgotten.
Cited passages: Isaiah 64:7, Isaiah 65:2, Isaiah 65:3, Isaiah 65:5, Isaiah 65:8, Isaiah 65:13, Isaiah 65:14, Isaiah 65:12, Isaiah 65:24, Isaiah 65:19, Isaiah 65:22, Isaiah 65:25, Isaiah 65:11
Key moments
- Found by those who sought not (Isaiah 65:1). The Lord says he was sought and found by people who never asked for him.
- Hands spread out all day (Isaiah 65:2). The Lord describes reaching toward a rebellious people who follow their own thoughts.
- Holier than thou (Isaiah 65:5). The accused tell others to keep away, and the Lord calls them smoke in his nose.
- Destroy it not (Isaiah 65:8). Like wine spared in a cluster, the Lord will not destroy all for his servants' sake.
- My servants shall eat, ye shall be hungry (Isaiah 65:13). The Lord sets the fate of his servants against the fate of those who forsook him.
- New heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17). The Lord announces a new creation in which the former will not be remembered.
- Wolf and lamb together (Isaiah 65:25). Nothing will hurt or destroy in the Lord's holy mountain.
For reflection
The Lord describes hands spread out all day to people walking the other way, and the accused say I am holier than thou. What makes a person mistake distance from others for closeness to God?
