God’s response
1 ① I let myself be found by those who did not ask for me; I have been met by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation who did not call on my name. 2I have stretched out my hands all day to a rebellious people who chose the evil way, following their own wishes.
3These people provoked me to my face, continually, sacrificing in gardens, burning in cense on bricks, 4living in tombs and spending nights in dark places; a people who eat the flesh of swine and broth of abominable meat. 5They cry out, “Stay away, do not come near, for I am too sacred to be touched.” Such people and their acts arouse my anger like fire that burns all day.
6Look, all this is written in my book, I will not keep silent till I have settled my account with them 7for their crimes and the crimes of their fathers as well, Yahweh says. Because they burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed against me on the hills, I will pay them back in full.
God saves and blesses the just
8Yahweh says, When people find juice in a grape, they say: ‘Do not destroy it, there is a blessing here.’ So will I do with my servants; I will not destroy all of them.
9I will create a new race from Jacob and they will own the hills of Judah. My chosen people will inherit them, and my servants will dwell there. 10Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds; they will be for my people who have sought me.
11But as for you who have forsaken Yahweh, you who have forgotten my holy mountain, you who spread a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, 12I have destined you to the sword. All of you will kneel for the slaughter.
For I called and you did not answer; I spoke and you did not listen.
Instead you did what was evil in my sight and chose that in which I had no delight. 13Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look, my servants will eat
but you will go hungry; my servants will drink but you will be thirsty; my servants will rejoice but you will be disgraced;
14my servants will sing with gladness of heart,
but you will cry with grief in your heart and wail in anguish of spirit.
15My chosen ones will use as a curse the name you will leave behind, as I strike you dead and give my servants a new name.
16Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will receive the blessing from the God of truth; who ever takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For past troubles will be forgotten, and I will see them no more.
A new heaven and a new earth
17I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again.
18Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 19I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people.
The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more.
20You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit. 22No longer will they build houses for others to dwell in; no longer will they plant for others to eat the harvest.
For as the days of a tree will the days of my people be; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23Their labor will not be in vain, nor will they bear children destined for misfortune, for they will be a people blessed by Yahweh, and their descendants with them.
24Before they call, I will have answered; while they are yet speaking, I will have heard.
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, (but the serpent will feed on dust). They will not destroy nor do any harm over all my holy mountain, says Yahweh.
- Is 65,1 Chapters 65-66 announce the judgment of the Lord on the earth. He will create a new heaven and a new earth in which his servants will experience happiness. Verses 13-14 are a prelude to the beatitudes and the woes expressed in Luke 6:20-26. Is 65,17 No one could imagine the new heaven prepared for us by God (Mk 12:18). Let us rejoice that the prophet has described it in such a concrete way. For us the happiness of the beyond is part of our faith; but at this time it was not yet clear neither for the Jews nor the prophet. God rewarded people while on earth and they preferred not to think about the lot of those already dead, or who would die before the time of happiness had come. God did everything so that his people would not neglect their earthly duties on the pretext of waiting for a beyond.
