The blessedness of the faithful and the doom of the apostates

The fate of the apostates

65 I was ready to offer an answer

to those who consulted me not;

and to suffer myself to be found

of those who had sought me not.

‘Here am I, here am I,’ I said

to a people who call not upon me.

2 I spread out my hands all the day

to a rebel unruly people,

who walk in a way not good,

but after their own devices –

3 A people who even to my face

continually provoke me,

sacrificing in gardens

and burning incense on tiles –

4 who sit among the graves,

and spend the night in caves,

who eat the flesh of swine

and unclean broth from their vessels –

5 who say, ‘Keep by yourself,

keep away from me, lest I infect you.’

Such men are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that blazes for ever.

6 Behold, it is written before me:

I will not, says the Lord, keep silence,

7 until I have punished their guilt

and the guilt of their fathers together,

who have burned on the mountains incense,

and dishonoured me on the hills.

So first their reward I will measure,

then into their bosom requite it.

The destiny of the faithful in the impending judgment

8 Thus says the Lord:

as when new wine is found in the cluster,

and one says, ‘Destroy it not,

because it contains a blessing;’

Even so will I do for my servants’ sake,

I will not destroy the whole.

9 I will bring out of Jacob a seed

and from Judah and heir to my mountains:

the land will be owned by my chosen,

and there will my servants dwell.

10 And Sharon will then be a pasture for flocks,

and the valley of Anchor for cattle to rest in,

for my people who have sought me.

11 But you who forsake the Lord,

and forget my holy mountain,

who spread forth a table for fortune,

and pour out mixed wine unto destiny:

12 I destine you for the sword,

you will all bow down to the slaughter.

For you answered not when I called,

I spake, but you did not listen;

you did that which was vile in my sight,

and made choice of the things that displeased me.

13 Therefore thus says the Lord the Lord:

behold, my servants will eat,

but you will be hungry;

behold, my servants will drink,

but you will be thirsty;

behold, my servants will be joyful,

but you will be ashamed.

14 Behold, my servants will shout

for gladness of heart;

but for sorrow of heart you will cry,

you will wail for vexation of spirit.

15 Behold, you will leave your name

for my chosen to curse by:

behold, by a far other name

will my servants be called.

16 He who prays in the land for a blessing

will appeal to the God of truth;

and he who swears in the land

will swear by the God of truth –

when the former distress is forgotten

and hidden from my eyes:

17 for behold I will soon create

the heavens and the earth anew.

The glorious future

The past will not be remembered,

nor come into mind again;

18 but men will for ever rejoice and exult

over this my (new) creation.

For behold! I will straightway create

Jerusalem a rejoicing,

and her people an exultation;

19 for I will exult in Jerusalem,

and in my people rejoice.

No more will be heard within her

the voice of weeping or crying,

20 no more will be found there

a baby of a few brief days,

or an old man who has not completed

the full tale of his days.

But he who dies the youngest

will have lived for a hundred years,

and he who dies less than a hundred

will be counted a man accursed.

21 They will dwell in the homes they have built,

eat the fruit of the vines they have planted;

22 no others will dwell in the homes your have built,

nor will others enjoy what they planted.

For the days of my folk will be many

as the days of the life of a tree,

and the work that their hands have achieved

will my chosen enjoy to the end.

23 They will not labour in vain,

nor rear their children to perish;

for a race that is blest of the Lord are they,

and their offspring will live by their side.

24 I will answer or ever they call,

I will hearken while still they are speaking.

25 The wolf and the lamb will then pasture together,

and the lion eat straw like the ox:

but the serpent – its food will be dust.

None will do hurt, says the Lord, or havoc,

on all my holy mountain.

Doom pronounced upon those who intend to build a rival temple

66 Thus says the Lord:

the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool;

what manner of house would you build me?

What manner of home would you rear?

2 For all this is the work of my hand,

and these things are all mine, says the Lord.

But this is the man I regard –

the afflicted and broken in spirit,

who trembles at my word.

3 Oxen they kill forsooth –

but men they also slay;

and sheep they sacrifice –

but dogs they also strangle:

they offer their oblations –

but also the blood of swine;

they bring their memorial incense,

but they also bless the idol.

Such are the ways they have chosen,

foul rites are the joy of their soul;

4 so I choose that they will be harassed,

the things that they dread I will bring on them:

because, when I called, none responded;

they listened not, when I spoke,

but did that which was vile in my sight,

and made choice of the things that displeased me.

The faithful cheered by the prospect of Zion’s prosperity

5 Hear you the word of the Lord,

you who at His word tremble:

your brethren, who hate you and loathe you

for my name’s sake, have said:

‘Let the Lord show forth his glory

that we too may look on your joy.’

But they will put to shame.

6 Hark! From the city an uproar.

Hark! From the Temple it comes.

Hark! ’tis the Lord himself

dealing recompense unto his foes.

7 But she has brought forth a son

before her hour of travail;

before her pains came upon her,

of a man-child was she delivered.

8 Who has heard the like?

Who has seen aught like this?

Can it be that a single day

may see the birth of a people,

that a nation be born all at once?

For no sooner had Zion travailed

than she brought her sons to the birth.

9 Would I ever not help to bring forth

what I bring to the birth? says the Lord.

Or would I, having brought to the birth,

then close up the womb? says your God.

10 O Jerusalem, rejoice,

and exult in her, all you who love her.

Be joyful with her exceedingly,

all you who mourned over her;

11 that so you may suck to the full

from the breasts of her consolations,

and drain to your heart’s delight

the milk of her rich mother-bosom.

12 For thus says the Lord: behold,

I will set prosperity flowing

towards her, like a river in spate,

and the wealth of the world like a torrent.

Your babes will be borne on the side

and dandled upon the knees;

13 and as one whom his mother comforts,

so will I comfort you:

in Jerusalem you will be comforted.

14 Your heart will rejoice at the sight,

and your bones will flourish like grass;

and then will men perceive

how the Lord loves his servants,

and how wroth he can be with his foes.

15 For behold, the Lord will come like a fire,

with chariots like the whirlwind,

to render his anger in burning heat,

his rebuke in flames of fire.

16 For judgment the Lord will hold on all flesh,

by fire and by his sword,

and the Lord’s slain will be many.

17 Those who devote themselves

by rites of purification

to (worship in sacred) gardens,

with one in the centre to lead them –

who eat the flesh of swine,

of creatures that crawl, and mice –

18 their works and their thoughts, says the Lord,

will come to an end together.

The Lord’s glory announced throughout the world: the complete restoration and perpetuity of Israel

Behold, the time is come

to gather all nations and tongues;

they will come and behold my glory,

19 and a sign I will set among them.

And those who escape (the judgment)

I will send unto distant coasts,

such as have not heard of my fame,

nor yet have seen my glory.

They will tell to the nations my glory;

20 and out of all the nations

they will all your brethren bring,

unto my holy mountain,

to Jerusalem, says the Lord,

as an offering unto the Lord,

like the offerings brought to the Temple

by Israel in vessels pure.

21 Some I will also take,

for Levitical priests, says the Lord.

22 For as surely as the heavens

and the earth I create anew

will abide, says the Lord, before me,

your name and your race will continue.

The fearful fate of the apostates

23 From one new moon to another,

one Sabbath to another,

will all flesh come to worship

before me, says the Lord.

24 And forth they will go, and look

on the corpses of the men

who have rebelled against me –

whose worm never dies,

whose fire is never quenched:

they are held by all flesh in abhorrence.