Isaiah 65

I let myself be found by people who were not asking for me. I was found by people who were not looking for me. To a nation that did not call on my name I said, "Here I am! Here I am!"

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.

NoteThe Hebrew of the last phrase can be read two ways: "a nation that did not call on my name" (they never invoked him) or "a nation not called by my name" (they never bore it, i.e. were not counted as his). Both readings are old and the wording does not settle between them. "Here I am" is the ordinary Hebrew answer given by someone who has been called, the point is that God gives the answer to people who never called.

2All day long I have held out my hands to a stubborn people, who walk on a path that is not good, following their own ideas.

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;

NoteHolding out or spreading the hands was the normal posture of prayer and appeal, used by a person begging a superior. Here it is reversed: God takes the posture of the one pleading.

3They are a people who keep making me angry, right to my face. They offer sacrifices in gardens and burn incense on altars made of brick.

3A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;

NoteGardens here are not vegetable plots but planted enclosures used as open-air shrines, associated with fertility rites outside the Jerusalem temple. Israelite law required altars of earth or uncut stone; a molded-brick altar marks the worship as foreign.

4They sit among the graves and spend their nights in hidden places. They eat the meat of pigs, and their bowls hold broth made from unclean things.

4Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

NoteSitting among graves and spending nights in hidden places describes two practices: seeking messages from the dead, and sleeping at a shrine in the hope of receiving a dream oracle. Contact with the dead also made a person ritually unclean, so the acts break the purity rules as well. Pig meat was forbidden food in Israelite law, and "unclean things" covers other animals the law barred from the table.

5They say, "Keep to yourself. Do not come near me, because I am holier than you." People like this are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day long.

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.

NoteIn Hebrew thought, holiness, like uncleanness, was catching, transmitted by touch. The speaker is warning others off so that his own consecrated state is not disturbed by contact with them; the tone is ritual self-protection, not only moral snobbery. (The King James phrase "holier than thou" entered English from this verse.) In Hebrew, anger sits in the nose: a hot or snorting nose means fury, so smoke in the nostrils is a constant irritant that keeps the anger burning.

6Look, it is written down in front of me. I will not keep silent. I will pay them back. I will pay it back in full, into their laps.

6Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

NoteThe "lap" is the loose fold of a long garment gathered above the belt, used as a pocket for carrying grain, coins or fruit. To measure payment into someone's lap is to hand it over in full, the way a merchant pours out a measured amount.

7"I will repay your own sins and the sins of your ancestors together," says the LORD. "Because they burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure out full payment for what they did before, into their laps."

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.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capitals it stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, which the translators did not spell out; "Lord GOD" in verses 13 and 15 renders a double title, roughly "my Master, the LORD." Burning incense on the mountains and hills refers to worship at hilltop shrines, the "high places" repeatedly condemned elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures.

8This is what the LORD says: "When new wine is still in a bunch of grapes, someone says, 'Do not destroy it, there is something good in it.' I will do the same for my servants' sake. I will not destroy them all.

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.

NoteA saying from the grape harvest: when a picker finds one cluster still holding good juice in an otherwise spoiled bunch, the call goes up not to throw it away. The cluster is not spared for its own sake but because of what is in it.

9I will bring descendants out of Jacob, and out of Judah someone to inherit my mountains. The people I have chosen will own that land, and my servants will live there.

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.

NoteJacob is the ancestor of the nation, later renamed Israel, and his name is used for the whole people; Judah is his son and the name of the southern kingdom around Jerusalem. "My mountains" means the hill country of Judah, the highland spine of the land.

10Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who have looked for me.

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.

NoteSharon is the fertile coastal plain in the northwest; the Valley of Achor lies near Jericho at the eastern edge, and its name means "trouble," from a disaster recorded in the book of Joshua. Naming the two together covers the land from one side to the other, and the valley named Trouble becomes quiet grazing.

11But you are the ones who abandon the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set out a table for the god Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for the god Destiny.

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.

Note"Fortune" and "Destiny" translate two Hebrew proper names, Gad and Meni, gods of luck and allotted fate worshiped in the region. Setting out a table means laying a meal before a god's image; mixed wine is wine blended with spices or water, poured out as a drink offering. The King James "that troop" and "that number" are attempts to translate the two names as ordinary words.

12So I will count you out for the sword, and you will all bow down to be killed. When I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You did evil right in front of me and chose what I did not want.

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.

NoteThere is a play on words here that English cannot carry: the god Meni ("Destiny") in verse 11 and the verb "I will allot you" or "count you out" come from the same Hebrew root. Those who chose the god of allotted fate get an allotment, the sword. Bowing down describes kneeling for execution.

13So this is what the Lord GOD says: "Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will be glad, but you will be put to shame.

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:

14Look, my servants will sing because their hearts are glad, but you will cry out because your hearts are heavy, and you will wail because your spirit is broken.

14Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.

15You will leave your name behind to be used as a curse by the people I have chosen. The Lord GOD will put you to death, and he will call his servants by another name.

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:

NoteA ruined person's name could become part of a curse formula: "may you end up like so-and-so." To leave your name as a curse is to be remembered only as the standard example of disaster.

16So anyone in the land who asks for a blessing will ask for it from the God of truth, and anyone in the land who takes an oath will swear by the God of truth. The troubles of the past will be forgotten and hidden from my sight.

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.

NoteBlessing and oath formulas named a god as guarantor, "as surely as such-and-such a god lives", so who a person swore by showed whose they were. "God of truth" is in Hebrew "God of Amen"; amen means reliable, firm, it stands.

17Look, I am creating new heavens and a new earth. The things that came before will not be remembered and will not come to mind.

17For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

NoteThe verb translated "create" is the one used in the opening of Genesis, and in Hebrew it takes only God as its subject; it is never used of a human making something.

18Instead, be glad and full of joy forever in what I create. Look, I am creating Jerusalem to be a place of joy, and her people to be a delight.

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.

19I will be glad about Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will never be heard in her again.

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 will never again be a baby there who lives only a few days, or an old person who does not live out a full life. Someone who dies at a hundred years old will still count as young, and the sinner who reaches a hundred will be counted as cursed.

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.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is compressed and its exact sense is disputed. The general picture is clear, lifespans so long that a death at a hundred counts as dying in childhood, but the second half can be read either as "anyone failing to reach a hundred is reckoned accursed" or as "the sinner, though he reaches a hundred, dies under a curse," and the wording supports both.

21They will build houses and live in them. They will plant vineyards and eat the fruit from them.

21And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

22They will not build a house for someone else to live in, or plant for someone else to eat. My people will live as long as a tree lives, and the people I have chosen will enjoy the work of their own hands for a long time.

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.

NoteOlives, oaks and cedars in this region live for centuries, and their lifespan was proverbial for something that outlasts many human generations.

23They will not work for nothing, or have children who come to ruin. They are a people the LORD has blessed, and their children are blessed along with them.

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.

NoteThe Hebrew behind "children who come to ruin" is literally "bearing for sudden terror", bearing children only to lose them to disaster. In a world of high infant mortality and repeated wars, this is the ordinary fear of a parent, not a rare one.

24And this is what will happen: before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

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 will eat together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox, but the snake's food will be dust. They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain, says the LORD.

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.

NoteDust as the snake's food repeats the wording of the curse on the serpent in Genesis, and the closing line is almost identical to the end of the animal scene in Isaiah 11. The holy mountain is the temple hill in Jerusalem, used here as a name for the whole city and land.