Isaiah 66

This is what the LORD says: "The heavens are my throne, and the earth is the stool under my feet. So what kind of house could you build for me? Where could you build a place for me to rest?

1Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

Note"House" here means the temple in Jerusalem, the building where sacrifices were made and where God was understood to be present among his people. "A place for me to rest" is temple language too: the resting place was where a god was thought to settle down and stay. The question is not whether a temple should exist but what sort of building could ever hold the one who made the sky and the ground.

2My own hand made all these things, and that is how they all came to be," says the LORD. "But this is the person I pay attention to: the one who is poor and afflicted, crushed in spirit, and who shakes with awe at what I say.

2For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "humble" also means poor or afflicted, someone beaten down by circumstances, not just modest in attitude. The phrase translated "deeply sorry for his sin" is literally "struck in spirit," a person whose confidence has been broken.

3But as things are, whoever kills an ox is like a man who kills a person; whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck; whoever brings a grain offering is like one who offers pig's blood; whoever burns incense is like one who praises an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and they enjoy the disgusting things they do.

3He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

NotePigs and dogs were unclean animals under Israelite law and were never offered to God; a dog's blood or a pig's blood on an altar would have been shocking rather than merely irregular. A grain offering was a bloodless gift of flour, oil and incense. The Hebrew has no word for "like" in these lines (it reads flatly "one who kills an ox, one who strikes down a man"), so the sentence can be read either as a comparison (worship offered in this spirit counts as murder) or as a description of people who do both things side by side.

4So I will choose harsh treatment for them, and I will bring on them the very things they are afraid of. For when I called, no one answered. When I spoke, no one listened. Instead they did evil right in front of me, and they chose what does not please me."

4I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "harsh treatment" is uncertain; it is related to a word for wanton or abusive dealing, and older translations took it as "delusions." The point either way is that their choices are answered in kind.

5Listen to the word of the LORD, you who shake with awe at what he says: "Your own countrymen hate you and throw you out because you belong to me. They say, 'Let the LORD show how great he is,' but he will appear and bring you joy, and they will be put to shame.

5Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

NoteBeing "thrown out" means being excluded from the worshiping community and its assemblies, not merely disliked. "Let the LORD show how great he is" is a taunt in the mouths of the opponents, a sneer at people whose God has not yet acted for them.

6Listen! An uproar from the city. A sound from the temple. It is the sound of the LORD paying his enemies back what they deserve.

6A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

NoteThe temple is the one in Jerusalem, the center of Israel's worship. A sound coming from it means the reckoning is coming from God's own house, not from an army outside the walls.

7Before she went into labor, she gave birth. Before her pains came, she delivered a son.

7Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.

Note"She" is Jerusalem, pictured as a woman in childbirth; her children are the people who will fill the city again. Birth without labor pains is the impossible thing being described, the population appearing suddenly, without the generations it would normally take.

8Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen anything like it? Can a land be brought to birth in a single day? Can a nation be born all at once? Yet as soon as Zion went into labor, she gave birth to her children.

8Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

NoteZion is the hill Jerusalem stands on, and is used as another name for the city and its people.

9"Do I bring a baby to the moment of birth and then not let it be born?" says the LORD. "Or do I, the one who delivers, close up the womb?" says your God.

9Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.

10Be glad with Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all you who love her. Be full of joy with her, all you who have mourned for her.

10Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:

11Then you may nurse at her comforting breasts and be satisfied. You may drink deeply and take delight in her rich abundance.

11That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

12For this is what the LORD says: "I will send peace flowing to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like a stream that overflows. You will nurse, and you will be carried on her hip and bounced on her knees.

12For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.

13As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem."

13As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14When you see this, your heart will be glad, and your bones will grow strong like fresh grass. The LORD's hand will be seen at work for his servants, but his anger will be seen against his enemies.

14And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

NoteIn Hebrew, "bones" often stands for a person's physical strength and vitality, the equivalent of saying you feel strong again after being worn down.

15Look, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots come like a whirlwind. He comes to pay out his anger in fury, and his rebuke in flames of fire.

15For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

NoteThe chariot was the fastest and most feared weapon of the age. Storm, fire and chariots together are the standard picture of a god arriving as a warrior.

16For with fire and with his sword the LORD will bring judgment on every living person, and many will be killed by the LORD.

16For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

17"Those who set themselves apart and make themselves clean so they can go into the gardens, following the one in the middle, and who eat the meat of pigs and other disgusting things and rats, will all be destroyed together," says the LORD.

17They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.

NoteThe gardens were open-air sites used for rites outside Israel's official worship. The middle phrase is obscure in Hebrew: "following the one in the middle" may mean following a leader or priest who stands at the center of the rite, or following an object or image set up there, translators have never agreed. Pigs and rodents were unclean under Israelite food law, so eating them marks the practice as deliberately outside that law.

18"I know what they do and what they think. The time is coming when I will gather all nations and all languages, and they will come and see my glory.

18For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

19I will set up a sign among them, and I will send some of them who survive to the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, whose men shoot the bow, and to Tubal and Javan, and to the distant coastlands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will tell the nations how great I am.

19And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

Note"A sign" here means a signal or standard, something set up to be seen from a distance, but what it is is not specified. The place names sweep from one edge of the known world to the other: Tarshish lay far to the west (perhaps Spain), Pul (usually read as Put) and Lud were African or Anatolian peoples known as archers, Tubal was in eastern Asia Minor, and Javan is the Hebrew name for the Greeks. "Coastlands" covers the islands and shorelines of the Mediterranean, the far-off places at the limit of Israel's map.

20They will bring all your fellow Israelites out of every nation as an offering to the LORD. They will come on horses, in chariots, in covered wagons, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem," says the LORD, "just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean container to the house of the LORD.

20And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

NoteThe word for "offering" is the one used for a grain offering, and also for tribute presented to a king: a gift brought in homage. "A clean container" means a vessel that meets the ritual purity rules, food or gifts brought to the temple in an unclean vessel could not be presented. "My holy mountain" is the temple hill in Jerusalem.

21"And I will take some of them to be priests and Levites," says the LORD.

21And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.

NotePriests were drawn from the descendants of Aaron and alone handled the altar; Levites were the wider tribe that served the temple in supporting roles. Both offices were closed by birth. "Some of them" is deliberately open: it can be read as the returning Israelites just described, or as the foreign peoples who brought them.

22"The new heavens and the new earth that I will make will last before me," says the LORD, "and in the same way your descendants and your name will last.

22For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

Note"New heavens and new earth" picks up the phrase used a chapter earlier (65:17). "Last before me" means endure in God's presence, the comparison is about permanence, not about the sky itself.

23And it will happen that from one new moon to the next, and from one Sabbath to the next, everyone alive will come and worship in front of me," says the LORD.

23And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

NoteThe new moon (the first sighting of the crescent, marking the start of each lunar month) was a monthly festival day with its own sacrifices. The Sabbath was the weekly day of rest. Together they mean simply: month after month and week after week, without a break.

24"And they will go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who rebelled against me. The worms that eat them will not die, and the fire that burns them will not go out, and they will be a horror to everyone alive."

24And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

NoteCorpses left unburied outside the city walls were the ultimate disgrace in this culture; burial was owed even to enemies. "Their worm" is the maggot that consumes a body left in the open. Worms that never finish and a fire that never burns out picture a ruin that is never cleared away and stays permanently in view.