Yeshayahu 65 ישעיהו ס״ה

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name.

I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, which walks in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;

a people that provoke me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense upon altars of brick;

that sit on the graves, and spend the night in vaults, that eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

that 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 burns all the day.

Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay,

indeed I will pay home into their bosoms your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the Lord, who burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills: therefore will I repay their former work in full measure into their bosom.

Thus says the Lord, As the wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes that I may not destroy them all.

And I will bring forth a seed out of Ya῾aqov, and out of Yehuda an inheritor of my mountains: and my chosen ones shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of ῾Akhor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

But you that forsake the Lord that forget my holy mountain, that set out a table for Gad (Fortune,) and fill the cup of liquor for Meni (Destiny,)

you will I destine for 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 did choose that in which I delighted not.

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:

behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.

And you shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen ones: for the Lord God shall slay thee and call his servants by another name:

so that he who blesses himself on the earth, shall bless himself by the God of truth; and he that swears on the earth, shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.

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

But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Yerushalayim a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

And I will rejoice in Yerushalayim, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

There shall be no more there an infant who lives a few days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the youngest shall die a hundred years old; and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be deemed accursed.

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

They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen ones shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for confusion, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox: and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.