Isaiah 65

God answers the prayer of Isaiah 63-64. He has reached out to a people who would not respond, and He will judge those who cling to idolatry and false piety. But He will preserve a faithful remnant, and He promises new heavens and a new earth, where joy replaces weeping and creation is at peace.

Isaiah 65:1

God has been reaching out to people who never went looking for Him. He lets Himself be found by those who did not seek, and says “Here I am!” twice. Paul applies this to the Gentiles coming to faith. Grace begins with God, not with us.

BSA: revealed (“made known, manifested”): God takes the first step and shows Himself openly, before anyone asks.

Hebrew: נִדְרַשְׁתִּי (nidrashti, H1875) — “I let Myself be sought.” The verb is the same one used for seeking God in prayer. Here God says He answered before anyone sought Him.

See also: Romans 10:20.

Isaiah 65:2

Picture a parent standing with arms open all day, while the child walks away. God’s patience is not weakness. Israel chose its own way and its own ideas instead of His word, and still He kept appealing to them.

BSA: obstinate (“rebellious, stubborn”): This is willful resistance, not simple ignorance.

Hebrew: פָּרַשְׂתִּי (parasti, H6566) — “I have spread out.” The word pictures arms stretched wide in welcome or appeal. It shows God’s longing, not just His authority.

See also: Romans 10:21.

Isaiah 65:3-4

These verses list pagan practices: offerings in garden shrines, incense on brick altars, and rituals among tombs and hidden places. They also list eating pork, which the law forbade. They did this openly, “to My face,” as though God would not mind. It is idolatry mixed with defiance.

BSA: gardens (“pagan shrines, sacred groves”): These were leafy places of idol worship, set up in place of the temple.

See also: Leviticus 11:7; Isaiah 66:17.

Isaiah 65:5

These people were proud of their own religion. They told others to keep away because they were “holier,” while they practiced uncleanness. God says such self-righteousness is like smoke that stings His nostrils and does not go away. Real holiness is humble.

BSA: holier (“more consecrated, set apart”): They claimed a special status, but it was only their own estimate of themselves.

Hebrew: אַפִּי (appi, H639) — “My nose, My nostrils.” In Hebrew the word for nose is also the word for anger. Smoke in the nose is a vivid picture of God’s burning displeasure.

Isaiah 65:6-7

God has not forgotten. Their deeds are “written before Me,” and He will not stay silent forever. He will repay, piling the full measure into their laps. The sins of the fathers were repeated by their children, and both generations answer for them.

BSA: laps (“bosom, chest area, intimate space”): The payment lands right where they carry things, so the consequences cannot be avoided.

See also: Exodus 34:7.

Isaiah 65:8

A farmer finds a cluster with good new wine still in it and says, “Don’t ruin it, there is a blessing in it.” So God will not destroy everyone. Because of His faithful servants, a remnant will be spared, though judgment falls on the rest.

BSA: blessing (“a gift from God, bringing prosperity and praise”): The remnant is valued as a gift God means to bring to fruit.

See also: Isaiah 6:13.

Isaiah 65:9

God will bring forth a new family from Jacob and Judah to inherit His land. They are called His chosen and His servants. The promise to Abraham’s line is not cancelled. A faithful people will live in the place God set apart.

BSA: elect (“chosen ones, select people”): They belong to God by His choice, not by their own merit.

Hebrew: בְּחִירַי (bechirai, H972) — “My chosen ones.” It comes from the verb for choosing and carries a sense of delight. God picks them because He is pleased with them.

Isaiah 65:10

Sharon, the coastal plain in the west, and the Valley of Achor, a gloomy valley in the east, mark the whole land. Both will become safe pastures where animals rest. A place once tied to trouble becomes a place of peace for those who seek God.

BSA: Valley of Achor (“a place of trouble”): Achor means “trouble.” God turns a name of sorrow into a place of rest.

See also: Joshua 7:26; Hosea 2:15.

Isaiah 65:11

Now God turns back to the rebels. They abandoned the LORD and His holy mountain, Zion, and laid out feasts for the gods Fortune and Destiny. Trusting luck and fate instead of the living God is an old and common temptation.

BSA: forsake (“leave or relinquish”): This is a deliberate walking away from God, not an accident. Destiny (“the God of fate”): It names a pagan deity of fate whom they honored instead of the God who actually rules history.

Hebrew: מְנִי (meni, H4507) — “Destiny, the one who apportions.” The name comes from a verb meaning to count out or assign. It sets up God’s pointed reply in the next verse.

Isaiah 65:12

God answers with a play on words. They worshiped Destiny, so He will “destine” them for the sword. The root problem was refusing to respond. He called and spoke, but they would not answer or listen, and they chose what displeased Him.

BSA: destine (“assign, determine”): God, not some blind fate, is the one who assigns outcomes.

Hebrew: מָנִיתִי (manitî, H4487) — “I have destined, I have counted out.” This sounds like the name Meni (Destiny) in verse 11. God turns the idol’s name against those who trusted it.

See also: Proverbs 1:24-25.

Isaiah 65:13-14

Two groups face opposite futures. God’s servants will eat, drink and rejoice. Those who rejected Him will go hungry, thirsty and ashamed. The servants sing from a glad heart. The rebels cry out from a heavy heart and a broken spirit.

BSA: servants (“faithful ones, slaves of God”): The word describes belonging to God and serving Him, and those who do are the ones who are provided for. wail (“howl, mourn”): It is the loud, uncontrolled cry of real anguish.

See also: Luke 6:21; Luke 6:25.

Isaiah 65:15

The rebels’ name will become a curse word, a saying that people use when they wish ruin on someone. God’s servants will receive a new name instead. A new name marks a new identity and a new relationship with Him.

BSA: another (“different, new”): God’s people are given a fresh identity that replaces the old one.

See also: Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 2:17.

Isaiah 65:16

In the renewed land, everyone will bless and swear by the God of truth. He is reliable, so His name can be trusted in every promise. The old troubles will be forgotten, covered over by His mercy.

BSA: truth (“faithfulness, reliability”): The truth in view is God’s steady dependability.

Hebrew: אָמֵן (amen, H543) — “truth, so be it, firm.” The Hebrew reads literally “the God of Amen.” It is the same word we say at the end of prayers, and it describes a God who is firm and true.

See also: 2 Corinthians 1:20.

Isaiah 65:17

God promises to create new heavens and a new earth. The word “create” shows this is His own work. The old sorrows will be so overshadowed that they will no longer come to mind. The New Testament picks up this hope for the final renewal of all things.

BSA: create (“bring into existence, make”): Only God can make something new, and He will do it Himself.

Hebrew: בוֹרֵא (bore, H1254) — “creating.” This is the same verb used of God’s creating at the beginning, in Genesis 1:1. The promised renewal is a creative act of God, not human improvement.

See also: 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1.

Isaiah 65:18-19

God calls His people to rejoice forever in what He creates. Even God rejoices over Jerusalem and His people. The sound of weeping will no longer be heard there. The picture is of shared joy between God and His people.

BSA: rejoice (“feel joyful, be cheerful”): It is a lasting gladness, not a passing feeling. delight (“joy, happiness”): God Himself takes pleasure in His people, not only the other way around.

See also: Zephaniah 3:17; Revelation 21:4.

Isaiah 65:20

In this new age, no child will die in infancy and no old person will die before living out his years. Dying at a hundred will count as dying young. Christians read the details differently, some literally and some as a picture of fullness of life, but all agree it shows death’s power being broken.

BSA: accursed (“cursed, lightly esteemed, under a curse”): In that day, a shortened life would seem like a rare and sad exception.

See also: Isaiah 25:8.

Isaiah 65:21-22

God’s people will build houses and live in them, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit. Earlier enemies often took everything. Now their work will last as long as a tree, and they will fully enjoy what their hands have made.

BSA: enjoy (“long enjoy, delight in”): The enjoyment will be lasting and satisfying.

See also: Amos 9:14.

Isaiah 65:23

No more empty labor, and no more raising children for tragedy. God’s people are blessed together with their descendants. The sorrow of loss and futility is replaced with fruitfulness, and the family is held within the blessing.

BSA: blessed (“Yehovah, the covenant God”): Their blessing comes from the covenant God, who keeps His promises to them and their children.

Isaiah 65:24

God’s nearness will be so complete that He answers before they call. In the meantime, this verse tells us what kind of God He is: attentive and ready to hear. The distance and silence people feel now will be gone.

BSA: answer (“respond, provide”): His answer is not only words but active provision.

See also: Matthew 6:8; Daniel 9:20-23.

Isaiah 65:25

The closing picture repeats Isaiah 11: predator and prey feed together, and the lion eats straw. Nothing will hurt or destroy on God’s holy mountain. The serpent, a sign of the first curse, remains under judgment, eating dust. Peace fills all creation.

BSA: serpent (“the snake”): It recalls the curse on the serpent in Eden, now permanently contained.

See also: Isaiah 11:6-9; Genesis 3:14.