Isaiah 65 is God's answer to the anguished prayer of chapters 63-64. The chapter begins with a stunning reversal: God was found by those who did not seek Him and rejected by those who should have known Him. Verses 1-7 indict the rebellious — those who provoke God with pagan rituals, eat forbidden food, and claim a hollow holiness. Verses 8-16 divide Israel into two groups: the faithful servants who will inherit the land, and the apostates who will be cut off. Then, in verses 17-25, the vision explodes into the new heavens and new earth — a creation so radically renewed that the former things will not even be remembered. Infant death vanishes, labor produces lasting fruit, the wolf and lamb feed together, and God answers before His people call.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The new heavens and new earth (vv.17-25) is one of the most far-reaching eschatological visions in Scripture, taken up directly in Revelation 21:1-4. Verse 24 — 'Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear' — describes an intimacy between God and His people so complete that prayer and answer become simultaneous. The wolf-and-lamb imagery (v.25) echoes Isaiah 11:6-9, forming an inclusio across the entire book.
Translation Friction
We render 'new heavens and a new earth' (v.17) preserving the Hebrew construction (shamayim chadashim va'arets chadashah) rather than importing the Revelation 21 phrasing backward into the text. The 'servants' language in verses 8-16 raises questions about whether the division is ethnic or spiritual; we let the text speak without resolving the tension. The 'youth dying at a hundred' (v.20) is rendered to preserve its paradoxical character — longevity so extreme that dying at a hundred is considered premature.
Connections
Verse 1 is quoted by Paul in Romans 10:20 to describe God's outreach to the Gentiles. The new heavens and new earth (v.17) reappears in 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1. The wolf-and-lamb vision (v.25) echoes Isaiah 11:6-9 and anticipates Romans 8:19-22 (creation's liberation from bondage). 'Before they call I will answer' (v.24) is the eschatological fulfillment of the prayer access promised in Isaiah 58:9.
"I let Myself be sought by those who did not ask;
I let Myself be 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."
KJV I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God breaks His silence from chapter 64 with a startling declaration: He was available to those who never asked. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 10:20 as evidence that God's grace extends to the Gentiles. The doubled 'Here I am!' (hinneni, hinneni) is God using the very language of prophetic availability — the word Isaiah himself used at his commissioning (6:8) — now directed toward those outside the covenant.
"I spread out My hands all day long
to a rebellious people
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices —"
KJV I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The outstretched hands (perasti yadai) are the gesture of invitation and pleading — God has been reaching toward Israel all along. Paul also quotes this verse in Romans 10:21. The indictment is not that God was absent (as the prayer of ch.63-64 suggested) but that Israel was rebellious. 'Following their own devices' (achar machshevoteihem) is the root diagnosis.
"a people who provoke Me to My face continually,
who sacrifice in gardens
and burn incense on bricks —"
KJV A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The catalog of provocation begins. 'To My face' (al panai) means openly, brazenly — not secret sin but public idolatry. Garden sacrifices and brick altars indicate Canaanite or Mesopotamian syncretistic worship, performed in direct violation of the Torah's centralized worship requirements.
"who sit among the graves
and spend the night in secret places,
who eat the flesh of swine,
with broth of abominable things in their vessels —"
KJV Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Sitting among graves suggests necromancy — consulting the dead, forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:11. Eating swine's flesh violates the dietary laws of Leviticus 11:7. The 'broth of abominable things' (peraq piggulim) compounds the offense: not merely eating unclean meat but cooking with it, saturating the vessels themselves with impurity.
"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."
KJV Which 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 burneth all the day.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The supreme irony: those practicing pagan abominations (vv.3-4) claim a false holiness that makes them unapproachable. 'I am too holy for you' (qedashtiykha) is a perversion of genuine consecration — holiness inverted into arrogance. God's response is visceral: 'smoke in My nostrils' (ashan be'appi) — they are an irritant that provokes constant, smoldering anger.
"Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent;
I will repay — I will repay into their lap —"
KJV Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
'Written before Me' (ketuvah lephanai) suggests a divine ledger of offenses. The doubled 'I will repay' (shillamti veshillamti) emphasizes certainty. The image of repayment 'into their lap' (al cheiqam) is concrete — judgment is placed directly in their hands, inescapable.
"your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,"
says the LORD.
"Because they burned incense on the mountains
and mocked Me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
the full payment for their former deeds."
KJV Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The indictment extends across generations — 'your iniquities and your fathers' together.' Mountain and hill worship is the classic prophetic shorthand for high-place idolatry. The 'full payment' (pe'ullatam) is measured (madoti) — God's judgment is not arbitrary but precisely proportioned to the offense.
This is what the LORD says:
"As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and someone says, 'Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it' —
so I will do for the sake of My servants;
I will not destroy them all."
KJV Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The tone shifts from judgment to preservation. The grape-cluster parable is homely and tender: when a vintner finds one good cluster among damaged vines, he spares it for the juice still in it. God will do the same — for the sake of the faithful remnant ('My servants'), He will not destroy the whole. This is the same remnant theology that runs from Isaiah 1:9 through Romans 11:5.
"I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
and from Judah an heir of My mountains.
My chosen ones shall possess it,
and My servants shall dwell there."
KJV And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The promise narrows from 'not destroying all' to positive inheritance. 'My mountains' (harai) — the hill country of Judah — will be possessed by the elect (bechirai) and servants (avadai). These are the faithful within Israel, distinguished from the apostates of verses 1-7.
"Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
for My people who have sought Me."
KJV And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Sharon (the fertile coastal plain) and the Valley of Achor (where judgment fell in Joshua 7) are both transformed. Achor means 'trouble' — the valley of trouble becomes a place of rest. Hosea 2:15 makes the same promise. The beneficiaries are 'My people who have sought Me' — the faithful remnant contrasted with those who did not seek (v.1).
"But you who forsake the LORD,
who forget My holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny —"
KJV But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Gad ('Fortune') and Meni ('Destiny') are pagan deities — likely Aramean or Canaanite gods of luck and fate. Setting a table and filling cups are acts of ritual hospitality offered to these gods rather than to the LORD. The wordplay with Meni ('Destiny') and maniti ('I destine') in verse 12 is deliberate.
"I will destine you for the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
because I called and you did not answer,
I spoke and you did not listen.
You did what is evil in My eyes
and chose what I did not delight in."
KJV Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The wordplay is devastating: those who worship Meni ('Destiny') will be maniti ('destined') — by God — for the sword. The charge 'I called and you did not answer' reverses the prayer of chapter 64, where Israel accused God of silence. God now reveals that it was Israel who refused to answer His call.
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says:
"Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry;
My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty;
My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame."
KJV Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The threefold contrast (eat/hunger, drink/thirst, rejoice/shame) draws the sharpest possible line between the faithful servants and the apostates. The repetition of 'My servants' (avadai) emphasizes that the distinction is relational: those who serve God receive provision; those who serve Fortune and Destiny receive nothing.
"Behold, My servants shall sing out of a glad heart,
but you shall cry out from an anguished heart
and wail from a broken spirit."
KJV Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The contrast continues with a fourth pair: singing versus wailing. 'Broken spirit' (shever ruach) is the inversion of the 'contrite spirit' God cherishes in 66:2 — the same brokenness that leads to repentance in the faithful leads only to despair in the apostate.
"You shall leave your name as a curse-word for My chosen ones;
the Lord GOD will put you to death.
But His servants He will call by another name,"
KJV And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The apostates' name becomes a byword — a formula of cursing. Meanwhile, God's servants receive 'another name' (shem acher), signifying a new identity. This anticipates the 'new name' promised in Revelation 2:17 and 3:12. The death of the old identity and the granting of a new one is a pattern of covenant renewal.
"so that whoever invokes a blessing in the land
shall bless by the God of Amen,
and whoever takes an oath in the land
shall swear by the God of Amen.
For the former troubles will be forgotten
and will be hidden from My eyes."
KJV That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
אָמֵןamen
"Amen"—truth, faithfulness, certainty, so be it
Amen as a divine title (Elohei Amen) goes beyond the liturgical response 'so be it' to declare God's essential nature as the faithful, truth-keeping God. We preserve the Hebrew word rather than translating it ('the God of truth') to maintain its resonance with liturgical usage.
Translator Notes
The 'God of Amen' is a unique divine title in the Hebrew Bible. We preserve 'Amen' rather than translating it as 'truth' (as KJV does) because the word carries liturgical weight that 'truth' does not fully convey. The forgetting of former troubles prepares for the new creation announcement in verse 17.
"For behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind."
KJV For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The vision leaps from historical judgment to cosmic renewal. The verb bore' (create) is the exclusive divine prerogative — the same word as Genesis 1:1. 'The former things shall not be remembered' does not mean amnesia but that the new reality is so overwhelming that the old no longer occupies the heart. Revelation 21:1 quotes this verse directly. 2 Peter 3:13 invokes the same promise.
"But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating!
For behold, I am creating Jerusalem as a delight
and her people as a joy."
KJV But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The new creation is not abstract cosmology but centered on a city and a people: Jerusalem and her inhabitants. 'Delight' (gilah) and 'joy' (masos) — God creates the emotional capacity for eternal gladness. The city is not merely rebuilt but remade as the embodiment of joy.
"I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and be glad over My people.
No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in her,
nor the sound of crying."
KJV And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God Himself rejoices — the joy is not only given to the people but experienced by their Creator. 'No more weeping, no more crying' is quoted in Revelation 21:4. The double elimination (weeping and crying) covers both grief and distress — every form of human anguish is ended.
"No more shall there be an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his years.
For the youth who dies at a hundred will be considered young,
and the sinner who fails to reach a hundred will be considered cursed."
KJV There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This verse uses hyperbolic language to describe the radical extension of life in the new creation. Dying at a hundred — which in the ancient world was extreme old age — will be considered a youthful death. The second half preserves a note of moral consequence: the 'sinner' (chote') who dies at a hundred is cursed, implying that even in the new creation, rebellion has consequences. This verse sits in tension with the later vision of total peace (v.25), creating the prophetic layering characteristic of Isaiah's eschatology.
"They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit."
KJV And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The curse of Deuteronomy 28:30 ('you shall build a house and not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard and not enjoy its fruit') is reversed. In the new creation, labor produces lasting results. There is no dispossession, no futility, no enemy to confiscate the harvest.
"They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat.
For as the days of a tree
shall be the days of My people,
and My chosen ones shall long enjoy
the work of their hands."
KJV They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The 'days of a tree' implies centuries-long life — oaks and cedars live for hundreds of years. Human life will match the longevity of the most enduring things in nature. 'My chosen ones shall long enjoy' (yevallu bechirai) means they will wear out, outlast, fully use up the fruit of their labor — not death but satisfied completion.
"They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD,
and their descendants with them."
KJV They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Two of the deepest human fears are answered: wasted labor and doomed children. 'Bear children for calamity' (yeldu labehalah) — the terror that one's children will inherit disaster — is eliminated. The blessing extends across generations: both the parents and their descendants share in it.
"Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear."
KJV And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This is the definitive answer to the prayer of chapters 63-64, where Israel cried out and heard only silence. In the new creation, God's responsiveness will be so complete that He answers before the prayer is spoken and hears before the sentence is finished. The verse describes not omniscience as abstraction but intimacy as experience — the relationship between God and His people will be closer than thought and speech.
"The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all My holy mountain,"
says the LORD.
KJV The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The chapter's final verse compresses Isaiah 11:6-9 into a single image: predator and prey at peace, the lion herbivorous, the serpent grounded. 'They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain' repeats 11:9 verbatim — the vision that opened the messianic age in chapter 11 now closes the eschatological age in chapter 65. The serpent eating dust alludes to the Genesis 3 curse, suggesting that even in the new creation the serpent remains under judgment, but its power to harm is ended.