Isaiah 65

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¹“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. ✦ ²I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; ✦ ³a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; ✦ ⁴who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s meat, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; ✦ ⁵who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day. ✦ ⁶“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom, ✦ ⁷your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says Yahweh, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.” ✦ ⁸Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. ✦ ⁹I will bring offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there. ✦ ¹⁰Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me. ✦ ¹¹“But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny; ✦ ¹²I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.” ✦ ¹³Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed; ✦ ¹⁴Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit. ✦ ¹⁵You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name, ✦ ¹⁶so that he who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes. ✦ ¹⁷“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind. ✦ ¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy. ✦ ¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more. ✦ ²⁰“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed. ✦ ²¹They will build houses, and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ✦ ²²They will not build, and another inhabit. They will not plant, and another eat: for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. ✦ ²³They will not labor in vain, nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of Yahweh’s blessed, and their descendants with them. ✦ ²⁴It will happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. ✦ ²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Isa 65 ·12 Isa 66 ·10 Lev 26 ·8 Deut 32 ·7 Isa 1 ·6 Jer 31 ·5 Isa 51 ·5 Rom 9 ·5

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 65 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 65YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 65David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 65Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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