God's Grace to the Faithful and Judgment on the Rebellious
65
Chapter 65
1I was sought by those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that did not call on 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.3The people who provoke me to my face, who continually sacrifice in gardens and burn incense on bricks.4Those who sit in burial sites and in pressed-out portions—they spend the night; those who eat swine's flesh and broth of abhorrent portions—their ritual vessels.5Those who say, "Keep to yourself! Do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long!6Behold, it is written before me; I will not be silent, but—I will repay, and I will repay it upon their bosom.7"Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the LORD, which they burned incense upon the mountains and upon the hills—they taunted me, and I will recompense their deeds into their bosom."8Thus says the LORD: As one finds new wine in the cluster and says, "Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it," so I will do for the sake of my servants, so as not to destroy them all.9And I will bring forth seed from Jacob and an heir of the hills from Judah, and my chosen ones and my servants will inherit it, and they will dwell there.10And Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for oxen, for my people who sought me.11And you forsakers of the LORD, the forgetters of my holy mountain, the ones arranging a table to Gad and the ones filling a mixed drink for Meni.12And I appointed you to the sword, and all of you to slaughter; because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not hear, and you did the evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.13Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my servants will eat, but you will hunger; behold, my servants will drink, but you will thirst; behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed.14Behold, my servant will sing for joy from a good heart, but you will cry out from pain of heart, and from breaking of spirit you will wail.15And you will give your name for an oath for my chosen ones, and the Lord the LORD will put you to death, and for his servants he will call a different name.16The one who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of Amen, and the one who swears in the earth will swear in the God of Amen; for the former troubles are forgotten, and they are hidden from my eyes.