Isaías 65

ARC · Chapter 65/66

1Fui buscado dos que não perguntavam por mim, fui achado de aquelles que me não buscavam: a um povo que se não chamava do meu nome eu disse: Eis-me aqui.

2Estendi as minhas mãos todo o dia a um povo rebelde, que caminha por caminho não bom, após os seus pensamentos:

3Povo que me irrita diante da minha face de continuo, sacrificando em jardins e queimando incenso sobre tijolos;

4Assentando-se junto ás sepulturas, e passando as noites junto aos logares secretos: comendo carne de porco, e tendo caldo de coisas abominaveis nos seus vasos.

5E dizem: Tira-te lá, e não te chegues a mim, porque sou mais sancto do que tu. Estes são um fumo no meu nariz, um fogo que arde todo o dia.

6Eis que está escripto diante de mim: não me calarei; porém eu pagarei, e pagarei no seu seio,

7As vossas iniquidades, e juntamente as iniquidades de vossos paes, diz o Senhor, que queimaram incenso nos montes, e me affrontaram nos outeiros: pelo que lhes tornarei a medir o galardão das suas obras antigas no seu seio.

8Assim diz o Senhor: Como quando se acha mosto n'um cacho de uvas, dizem: Não o desperdices, pois ha benção n'elle; assim eu o farei por amor de meus servos, que os não destrua a todos.

9E produzirei semente de Jacob, e de Judah um herdeiro, que possua os meus montes; e os meus eleitos herdarão a terra e os meus servos habitarão ali.

10E Saron servirá de curral de ovelhas, e o valle de Achor de malhada de gados, para o meu povo, que me buscou.

11Mas a vós, os que vos apartaes do Senhor, os que vos esqueceis do meu sancto monte, os que pondes a mesa ao exercito, e os que misturaes a bebida para o numero,

12Tambem eu vos contarei á espada, e todos vos encurvareis á matança; porquanto chamei, e não respondestes; fallei, e não ouvistes: mas fizestes o que mal parece aos meus olhos, e escolhestes aquillo em que não tinha prazer.

13Pelo que assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Eis que os meus servos comerão, porém vós padecereis fome: eis que os meus servos beberão, porém vós tereis sêde: eis que os meus servos se alegrarão, porém vós vos envergonhareis:

14Eis que os meus servos exultarão do bom animo, porém vós gritareis de tristeza de animo; e uivareis pelo quebrantamento de espirito.

15E deixareis o vosso nome aos meus eleitos por maldição; e o Senhor Jehovah te matará; e a seus servos chamará por outro nome.

16Assim que aquelle que se bemdisser na terra, se bemdirá no Deus da verdade; e aquelle que jurar na terra, jurará pelo Deus da verdade; porque já estão esquecidas as angustias passadas, e porque já estão encobertas de diante dos meus olhos

17Porque, eis que eu crio céus novos e terra nova; e não haverá mais lembrança das coisas passadas, nem mais subirão ao coração.

18Porém vós folgareis e exultareis perpetuamente no que eu crio; porque eis que crio a Jerusalem uma alegria, e ao seu povo um gozo.

19E folgarei em Jerusalem, e exultarei no meu povo; e nunca mais se ouvirá n'ella voz de choro nem voz de clamor.

20Não haverá mais d'ali n'ella mamante de poucos dias, nem velho que não cumpra os seus dias; porque o mancebo morrerá de cem annos; porém o peccador de cem annos será amaldiçoado.

21E edificarão casas, e as habitarão; e plantarão vinhas, e comerão o seu fructo.

22Não edificarão para que outros habitem; não plantarão para que outros comam; porque os dias do meu povo serão como os dias da arvore, e os meus eleitos gozarão das obras das suas mãos até á velhice.

23Não trabalharão debalde, nem parirão para a perturbação; porque são a semente dos bemditos do Senhor, e os seus descendentes com elles

24E será que antes que clamem eu responderei: estando elles ainda fallando, eu os ouvirei.

25O lobo e o cordeiro se apascentarão ambos juntos, e o leão comerá palha como o boi: e pó será a comida da serpente. Não farão mal nem damno algum em todo o meu sancto monte, diz o Senhor

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God answers the previous prayer, explaining that he was always available, but the people rejected him through idolatrous practices. Despite this, he promises to preserve a faithful "remnant" and to create "new heavens and a new earth," where there will be no more weeping, and even the wolf and the lamb will graze together.

Explanation

God's answer is direct: "I am sought of them that asked not for me" — he was always available, but the people chose idolatrous paths, including practices such as eating swine's flesh (forbidden under the Law) and worship in gardens and among tombs, common among neighboring pagan religions. The promise of "new heavens and a new earth... the former things shall not be remembered" is one of the grandest eschatological visions in the Old Testament, quoted almost word for word in Revelation 21:1 and 2 Peter 3:13. The repeated image of the wolf and the lamb grazing together (already seen in chapter 11) reinforces the hope of complete cosmic peace among all creatures. The practical application today is that even when we seem distant from God, he was often already waiting for us, and his promise of complete renewal goes far beyond simply correcting past mistakes.

Fun facts

  • The promise of "new heavens and a new earth" is quoted almost word for word in both 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1, making it one of the most central eschatological concepts in all of Christian theology about the end times.
  • The mention of people living to "a hundred years" and still being considered young (v. 20) reflects an extraordinarily long life expectancy as a sign of the restored world, contrasting with the much shorter average life expectancy of ancient times.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 65:1“I am sought of them that asked not for me” describes God revealing Himself even to those who weren’t looking for Him, an idea that expands the offer of relationship beyond those who already belonged to the people.
  2. Isaías 65:2“I have spread out my hands all the day” describes a persistent, patient invitation, contrasted with the people’s constant rebellion, following their own thoughts instead of responding.
  3. Isaías 65:3Sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks describes pagan worship practices outside the temple’s official forms, a repeated criticism against rituals that imitated the region’s Canaanite cults.
  4. Isaías 65:4Eating pork and spending the night near tombs describes condemned religious practices: pigs were an animal forbidden by Israel’s law, and sleeping near graves was tied to rituals of consulting the dead. Both were seen as a departure from Israel’s faith.
  5. Isaías 65:5The phrase “I am holier than thou” exposes religious hypocrisy: people who practice condemned cults still consider themselves superior to others, compared to irritating smoke that never stops bothering.
  6. Isaías 65:6“I will not keep silence” and “recompense into their bosom” promise a response that won’t just be recorded, but actually collected, an image of a debt settled directly and personally.
  7. Isaías 65:7Adding the people’s iniquities to those of their ancestors extends the responsibility beyond a single generation, and “will I measure their former work into their bosom” describes retribution proportional to the idolatrous practices committed on mountains and hills.
  8. Isaías 65:8The image of new wine found in a cluster of grapes, worth preserving rather than discarding, describes the reason God does not destroy the whole people: even amid widespread sin, something still deserves saving.
  9. Isaías 65:9The promise that Jacob and Judah will produce “an inheritor” who possesses God’s mountains ties the promise of continuity to a concrete restoration of the land, not just an abstract blessing.
  10. Isaías 65:10Sharon and the Valley of Achor were fertile regions well known in the land of Israel; turning them into pasture and a resting place for the flocks of the people who seek God describes literal abundance applied to real, specific places.
  11. Isaías 65:11The mixed drink offering for “that number” refers to cults devoted to gods of fortune and destiny — Gad and Meni in the original Hebrew. The KJV translators chose to render these divine names by their meaning (“that troop” and “that number”) instead of keeping them as proper names.
  12. Isaías 65:12“Number you to the sword” describes a violent death for those who, even though called, chose to ignore God’s repeated invitation, a direct contrast with the preservation promised to the servants in verse 8.
  13. Isaías 65:13The list of opposites, eating versus starving, drinking versus being thirsty, rejoicing versus being ashamed, clearly separates the fate of the faithful servants from the fate of those who chose the opposite path.
  14. Isaías 65:14Continuing the list of contrasts, singing for joy of heart versus crying out in sorrow reinforces the split between two groups within the same people, defined by how they responded to God’s call.
  15. Isaías 65:15Leaving your own name as “a curse” among the chosen, and the servants receiving “another name,” describes a separation of identity so complete that even how the two groups are addressed changes.
  16. Isaías 65:16“The God of truth” becomes the new standard for oaths, and forgetting “the former troubles” sets up the transition to the promise of new heavens and a new earth that comes right after.
  17. Isaías 65:17New heavens and a new earth is the book’s broadest promise: not just the end of exile, but a complete re-creation, where not even the memory of past suffering will remain. The same image reappears near the very end, in chapter 66.
  18. Isaías 65:18“I create Jerusalem a rejoicing” uses the same verb for creating the world, now applied to the city, suggesting this transformation is as radical as the very act of creating something from nothing.
  19. Isaías 65:19“The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her” promises the definitive end of lament associated with the city, an image echoing earlier chapters about the end of Jerusalem’s mourning.
  20. Isaías 65:20Describing a hundred years old as an early death shows the scale of change in this ideal vision of the world: living to a hundred would mean dying young. In the real conditions of that time, few people came anywhere near that age.
  21. Isaías 65:21Building houses to live in and planting vineyards to eat their own fruit contrasts with a common experience of ancient warfare, in which the enemy occupied houses and ate the harvests of those who had worked the land.
  22. Isaías 65:22“As the days of a tree” describes an expectation of long life, comparable to a tree’s lifespan, and guarantees that the people themselves will enjoy the fruit of their labor, without anyone else taking possession of it.
  23. Isaías 65:23“Not labour in vain” and “nor bring forth for trouble” deny the experience of effort without result, promising that children born in this new season won’t face the same kind of crisis earlier generations lived through.
  24. Isaías 65:24“Before they call, I will answer” describes a closeness between God and the people so great that the response arrives before the request even finishes being spoken.
  25. Isaías 65:25The wolf and the lamb feeding together, and the lion eating straw like an ox, describe a world where even natural predators lose their aggression. It’s the ultimate symbol of total peace, where nothing and no one needs to fear attack.

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