Isaiah 66

1. Thus says the LORD, “The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where, then, is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest?

2. For all these things My hand has made, and these things came to be,” says the LORD. “But to this one I will look, to him who is of a poor and contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word.

3. He who kills an ox is as if he killed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog’s neck; he who offers a grain offering is as if he offered swine’s blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.

4. I also will choose their delusions, and I will bring their fears upon them because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before My eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.”

5. Hear the Word of the LORD, you who tremble at His Word, “Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified.’ But He will appear to your joy and they will be ashamed.”

6. A sound of noise from the city, a sound from the temple, the sound of the LORD repaying His enemies.

7. “Before she travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a man child.

8. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things like these? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or will a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she also gave birth to her children.

9. Will I bring to the birth, and not cause to be born?” says the LORD. “Shall I cause them to be born, and shut the womb?” says your God.

10. “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn for her;

11. That you may suck and be satisfied with her breasts of consolations; that you may milk out and be delighted with the fullness of her glory.”

12. For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like a flowing stream. Then you will suck thereof, you will be carried upon her sides and be dandled upon her knees.

13. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

14. And you will see, and your heart will rejoice, and your bones will flourish like the grass. And the hand of the LORD will be known toward His servants, and His fury toward His enemies,

15. For behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with His chariots like a tempest, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire,

16. For by fire and by His sword the LORD will execute judgment with all flesh; and the slain of the LORD will be many.

17. “Those who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves to go into the gardens, after the rites of Achad, Achad, a pagan Babylonian god means “the only one,” and refers to Nimrod, the mighty hunter, who claimed to be “in place of” the Lordeating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, will be cut off together,” says the LORD.

18. “For I know their works and their thoughts; it shall come to pass, that I will gather all the nations and tongues; and they will come and see My glory.

19. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape from them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, drawers of the bow; to Tubal, and Javan, to the far away isles that have not heard My fame, nor have seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.

20. And they will bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

21. And I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the LORD.

22. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “so will your seed and your name remain.

23. And it shall come to pass, that from one month to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.

24. “And they will go out and see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be put out; and they will be an object of abhorring unto all flesh.”