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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 65

1 “I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; I appeared to those who did not look for me.⁠ I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ to a nation that did not invoke my name. 2 I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable and who did what they desired. 3 These people continually and blatantly offend me as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards and burn incense on brick altars.⁠ 4 They sit among the tombs and keep watch all night long. They eat pork and broth from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans. 5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself! Don’t get near me, for I am holier than you!’⁠ These people are like smoke in my nostrils, like a fire that keeps burning all day long. 6 Look, I have decreed: I will not keep silent, but will pay them back; I will pay them back exactly what they deserve,⁠ 7 for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” says the Lord. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and offended me on the hills, I will punish them in full measure.” 8 This is what the Lord says: “When juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes, someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ So I will do for the sake of my servants—I will not destroy everyone. 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land; my servants will live there. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to my people, who seek me. 11 But as for you who abandon the Lord and forget about worshiping at my holy mountain, who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’ and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’—⁠ 12 I predestine you to die by the sword, all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, because I called to you, and you did not respond; I spoke and you did not listen. You did evil before me; you chose to do what displeases me.” 13 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated. 14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts.⁠ But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. 15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. The Sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name.⁠ 16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them. 17 For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth!⁠ The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore.⁠ 18 But be happy and rejoice forever moreover what I am about to create! For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy, and her people to be a source of happiness. 19 Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.⁠ 20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days or an old man die before his time. Indeed, no one will die before the age of one hundred; anyone who fails to reach the age of one hundred will be considered cursed.⁠ 21 They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.⁠ 22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit,⁠ for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. 23 They will not work in vain or give birth to children that will experience disaster.⁠ For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants. 24 Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake’s food will be dirt.⁠ They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain,” says the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 28:30 and Isaiah 65:22

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy curses the disobedient with a house someone else lives in and a vineyard someone else eats from. Isaiah 65 reverses this curse point by point, promising that no one will lose a house or vineyard again.

Passages

Deuteronomy 28:30

Hebrew Bible
29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 30 You will be engaged to a woman, and another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes, but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to save you.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Isaiah 65:22

Hebrew Bible
21 They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. 23 They will not work in vain or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

"... In reality, a number of expansionary texts in the prophetic books that originate from the Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenistic periods show conspicuous proximity to the Torah texts. However, these overlaps can be either concordant or of a critical-distancing kind. So, for example, the promise of a new heaven and a new earth in Isaiah 65:17–25 is formed markedly by the reception of Genesis 1–3. The new creation of heaven and earth is meant to replace the current order of the old creation. Isaiah 65:17–25 appears to have found a model for this juxtaposition in Isaiah 43:16–21, where the old and new exodus are contrasted. The replacement of the old by the new exodus is surpassed in Isaiah 65:17–25 in terms of a universally reaching antithesis of old and new creation. Furthermore, it can even be recognized that Isaiah 65:17–25 borrows not only from Genesis 1–3. It also makes reference to the end of the Torah—namely Deuteronomy 28:30—and thereby substitutes a functionally equivalent perspective of salvation in place of the ordering of life of the old creation. ..."
Konrad Schmid, Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible?, CSHB 4 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 74.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 28:30 and Isaiah 65:22

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