Chapter 65

  I have been inquired of by those who asked not, I have been found by those who sought Me not, I have said, 'Behold Me, behold Me,' Unto a nation not calling in My name.  

  I have spread out My hands all the day Unto an apostate people, Who are going in the way not good after their own thoughts.  

  The people who are provoking Me to anger, To My face continually, Sacrificing in gardens, and making perfume on the bricks:  

  Who are dwelling among sepulchres, And lodge in reserved places, Who are eating flesh of the sow, And a piece of abominable things -- their vessels.  

  Who are saying, 'Keep to thyself, come not nigh to me, For I have declared thee unholy.' These [are] a smoke in Mine anger, A fire burning all the day.  

  Lo, it is written before Me: 'I am not silent, but have recompensed; And I have recompensed into their bosom,  

  Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, said Jehovah, Who have made perfume on the mountains, And on the heights have reproached Me, And I have measured their former work into their bosom.'  

  Thus said Jehovah: As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one hath said, 'Destroy it not for a blessing [is] in it,' So I do for My servants' sake, not to destroy the whole.  

  And I have brought out from Jacob a seed, And from Judah a possessor of My mount, And possess it do My chosen ones, And My servants do dwell there.  

  And Sharon hath been for the habitation of a flock, And the valley of Achor for the lying down of a herd, For My people who have sought Me.  

  And ye [are] those forsaking Jehovah, Who are forgetting My holy mountain, Who are setting in array for Gad a table, And who are filling for Meni a mixture.  

  And I have numbered you for the sword, And all of you for slaughter bow down, Because I called, and ye have not answered, I have spoken, and ye have not hearkened, And ye do the evil thing in Mine eyes, And on that which I desired not -- fixed.  

  Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, My servants do eat, and ye do hunger, Lo, My servants do drink, and ye do thirst, Lo, My servants rejoice, and ye are ashamed,  

  Lo, My servants sing from joy of heart, And ye cry from pain of heart, And from breaking of spirit ye do howl.  

  And ye have left your name For an oath for My chosen ones, And the Lord Jehovah hath put thee to death, And to His servants He giveth another name.  

  So that he who is blessing himself in the earth, Doth bless himself In the God of faithfulness, And he who is swearing in the earth, Doth swear by the God of faithfulness, Because the former distresses have been forgotten, And because they have been hid from Mine eyes.  

  For, lo, I am creating new heavens, and a new earth, And the former things are not remembered, Nor do they ascend on the heart.  

  But joy ye, and rejoice for ever, that I [am] Creator, For, lo, I am creating Jerusalem a rejoicing, And her people a joy.  

  And I have rejoiced in Jerusalem, And have joyed in My people, And not heard in her any more Is the voice of weeping, and the voice of crying.  

  There is not thence any more a suckling of days, And an aged man who doth not complete his days, For the youth a hundred years old dieth, And the sinner, a hundred years old, is lightly esteemed.  

  And they have built houses, and inhabited, And planted vineyards, and eaten their fruit.  

  They do not build, and another inhabit, They do not plant, and another eat, For as the days of a tree [are] the days of My people, And the work of their hands wear out do My chosen ones.  

  They labour not for a vain thing, Nor do they bring forth for trouble, For the seed of the blessed of Jehovah [are] they, And their offspring with them.  

  And it hath come to pass, They do not yet call, and I answer, They are yet speaking, and I hear.  

  Wolf and lamb do feed as one, And a lion as an ox eateth straw, As to the serpent -- dust [is] its food, They do no evil, nor destroy, In all My holy mountain, said Jehovah!