The calling of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews for their incredulity, idolatry, and hypocrisy, 1-7. A remnant shall be saved, 8-10. Judgments on the wicked and blessings on the godly, 11-16. The blessed state of the new Jerusalem, 17-25.
1 "I am sought by those who did not ask for me. I am found by those who did not seek me. I said, 'Behold me, behold me,' to a nation that was not called by my name.
2 I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, which walks in a way that is not good after their own thoughts,
3 A people who provokes me to anger continually to my face, who sacrifices in gardens and burns incense upon altars of brick,
4 Who remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments, who eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels,
5 Who say, 'Stand by yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you.' These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me. I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
7 Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together," says the LORD, "who have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills. Therefore, I will measure their former work into their bosom."
8 Thus says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake so that I may not destroy them all.
9 And I will bring forth offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains, and my elect shall inherit it and my servants shall dwell there.
10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.
11 But you are those who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for that troop, and who furnish the drink-offering to that number.
12 Therefore, I will number you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter. Because when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not hear, but did evil before my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight."
13 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed.
14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit.
15 And you shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord GOD will slay you and call his servants by another name,
16 So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from my eyes.
17 For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. And the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 No longer shall there be from there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days. For the child shall die at one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They 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 my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are a people blessed by the LORD, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bull, and dust shall be the serpents' food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 65[➚]
[v.1-2] - Quoted in Romans 10:20-21.