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 a hundred years old,/
but the sinner being a 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 still 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.