Isaías 66

Heaven is God’s throne

¹The LORD says this: The heavens are my throne, \q and the earth is a stool for my feet. \q What kind of house would you build for me, \q and what kind of place could be my resting place? ²My own hand made all these things, \q and that is how they all exist, declares the LORD. \q The one I will regard with favor is the lowly, the broken in spirit, \q who trembles at my word.^{a 3}Slaughtering an ox is no different from killing a person; \q sacrificing a lamb, from breaking a dog’s neck; \q presenting a grain offering, from offering pig’s blood; \q burning frankincense as a memorial, from blessing an idol. \q These people have chosen their own ways, \q and their hearts delight in their loathsome things.^{b 4}So I in turn will choose how harshly to deal with them and will bring on them the very things they fear. \q For when I called, no one replied; \q when I spoke, they would not listen. \q They did what was evil in my sight \q and chose what gives me no pleasure.^c

Zion’s children born in a day

⁵Hear the word of the LORD, \q you who tremble at his word: \q Your own kin, who hate you and cast you out because of my name, have said, “Let the LORD show his glory, \q and we will see how glad you are!” But it is they who will be put to shame. ⁶Hear that roar from the city! \q Hear the noise from the temple! \q It is the sound of the LORD paying back his enemies what they have earned. ⁷Before her labor began, she gave birth; \q before the pangs came over her, she brought a son into the world. ⁸Who ever heard of anything like this? Who has seen the like? \q Is a country brought to birth in a single day, \q or a nation born in one moment? \q Yet Zion had barely begun her labor when she bore her children. ⁹Would I bring on the birth and then not let the child be born? says the LORD. \q Would I, who bring children to birth, then hold them back? says your God.

¹⁰Celebrate with Jerusalem and be glad over her, all who love her. \q Join in her great joy, all who have grieved for her, ¹¹so that you may feed at her breast and find comfort and be full, \q and draw your fill and revel in her rich glory.^d

Comfort for Zion and the gathering of the nations

¹²For the LORD says this: Look, I will make peace flow to her like a river, \q and the wealth of the nations like a stream in flood. You will feed at her breast; \q she will carry you at her side \q and play with you on her knees. ¹³Just as a mother comforts her own, \q so I myself will comfort you; \q in Jerusalem you will be comforted. ¹⁴You will see this and your hearts will be glad; \q your bones will spring up like new grass. \q It will be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants, \q but he will be furious with his enemies. ¹⁵Look! the LORD comes in fire, \q and his chariots sweep in like a storm, \q to give vent to his anger in fury \q and his rebuke in tongues of fire. ¹⁶By fire and by his sword the LORD will bring all humanity to judgment, \q and those struck down by the LORD will be many. ¹⁷Those who set themselves apart and cleanse themselves to enter the gardens, following the one in the center, \q who eat pork, vile creatures and mice, \q will perish together, declares the LORD.^{e 18}I, for my part, know their deeds and their schemes. The time is coming for gathering every nation and language, and they will come and look on my glory.^{f 19}I will put a sign among them. From them I will send survivors out to the nations: to Tarshish, to Pul and to Lud, the people who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, and to the far coastlands that have not heard the news of me or seen my glory. They will tell of my glory among the nations.^{gh 20}They will bring all your kin out of every nation as an offering to the LORD. They will come on horses, in chariots and covered carts, on mules and on swift camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the Israelites bring grain offerings to the house of the LORD in clean vessels. ²¹And I will even take some of them to be priests and Levites, says the LORD.^{i 22}The new heavens and the new earth that I am about to make will stand firm in my presence, declares the LORD; \q in the same way your descendants and your name will stand firm. ²³Month after month at the new moon, \q and week after week on the Sabbath, \q all humanity will come to bow in worship before me, says the LORD. ²⁴Then they will go out and gaze on the corpses of the people who rebelled against me. \q For their worm will not die, nor will their fire be put out, \q and they will be a horror to every living being.