HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1031
ISAIAH 66
page 661
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And look! I will create Jerusalem as
a place of happiness.
Her people will be a source of joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
will be heard in it no more.
“No longer will babies die when only a few
days old.
No longer will adults die before they have
lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at
one hundred!
Only the cursed will die that young!
In those days people will live in the houses
they build
and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
Unlike the past, invaders will not take their
houses
and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will have time to
enjoy their hard-won gains.
They will not work in vain,
and their children will not be doomed
to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord,
and their children, too, will be blessed.
I will answer them before they even call
to me.
While they are still talking about their
needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or
destroyed on my holy mountain.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
66
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good
as that?
Could you build me such a resting place?
My hands have made both heaven and
earth;
they and everything in them are mine.*
I, the Lord, have spoken!
“I will bless those who have humble and
contrite hearts,
who tremble at my word.
But those who choose their own ways—
delighting in their detestable sins—
will not have their offerings accepted.
66:2 As in Greek, Latin, and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads
these things are. 66:8 Hebrew Zion’s.
9
10
11
12
When such people sacrifice a bull,
it is no more acceptable than a human
sacrifice.
When they sacrifice a lamb,
it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog!
When they bring an offering of grain,
they might as well offer the blood of
a pig.
When they burn frankincense,
it’s as if they had blessed an idol.
I will send them great trouble—
all the things they feared.
For when I called, they did not answer.
When I spoke, they did not listen.
They deliberately sinned before my
very eyes
and chose to do what they know I
despise.”
Hear this message from the Lord,
all you who tremble at his words:
“Your own people hate you
and throw you out for being loyal to
my name.
‘Let the Lord be honored!’ they scoff.
‘Be joyful in him!’
But they will be put to shame.
What is all the commotion in the city?
What is that terrible noise from the
Temple?
It is the voice of the Lord
taking vengeance against his enemies.
“Before the birth pains even begin,
Jerusalem gives birth to a son.
Who has ever seen anything as strange
as this?
Who ever heard of such a thing?
Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
Has a country ever come forth in a mere
moment?
But by the time Jerusalem’s* birth pains
begin,
her children will be born.
Would I ever bring this nation to the point
of birth
and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord.
“No! I would never keep this nation from
being born,”
says your God.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be glad with her, all you who love her
and all you who mourn for her.
Drink deeply of her glory
even as an infant drinks at its mother’s
comforting breasts.”
This is what the Lord says:
“I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and
prosperity.
The wealth of the nations will flow to her.