Isaías 65

VBL · Chapter 65/66

1Me dejé consultar por gente que ni siquiera me hacía preguntas; me dejé encontrar por gente que ni siquiera me buscaba. A una nación que ni siquiera me reclamaba, le dije: ¡Aquí estoy, aquí estoy!.

2Extendí mis manos todo el día, suplicando a un pueblo obstinado que sigue malos caminos, haciendo lo que quiere.

3Este pueblo siempre me hace enojar, porque presenta sacrificios a los ídolos en sus jardines sagrados y ofrece incienso en altares paganos hechos de ladrillo.

4Pasan la noche entre las tumbas y en las cuevas, comiendo cerdo y cocinando otras carnes impuras.

5Dicen a los demás: ¡Mantengan la distancia! No te acerques a mí, pues soy demasiado santo para que me toques. ¡Esta gente es como el humo en mis narices, un hedor que arde todo el día!

6¡Mira, todo está escrito delante de mí! No me voy a callar. Voy a pagarles arrojando su castigo en su regazo.

7Voy a pagarles por sus propios pecados y por los de sus antepasados, dice el Señor, porque quemaron incienso en los montes y me ridiculizaron en las colinas. Voy a medir en sus regazos el pago completo por lo que han hecho.

8Esto es lo que dice el Señor: Es como cuando queda un poco de jugo en un racimo de uvas y la gente dice: No te deshagas de todo; todavía hay algo bueno en él, yo haré lo mismo con mis siervos: no los destruiré a todos.

9Me aseguraré de que Jacob tenga descendientes, y gente de Judá que pueda apropiarse de mi montaña. Mis elegidos, mis siervos, serán dueños de la tierra y vivirán allí.

10Sarón se convertirá en un pasto para los rebaños, y el Valle de Acor en un lugar de descanso para los rebaños, para mi pueblo que me sigue.

11Pero los que abandonan al Señor y se olvidan de mi monte santo, los que preparan fiestas para el dios de la buena suerte, los que llenan jarras de vino mezclado para el dios del destino,

12Me aseguraré de que tu destino sea ser asesinado por la espada. Todos ustedes se inclinarán para ser masacrados, porque los llamé, pero no respondieron; les hablé, pero no escucharon. En lugar de eso, hicieron lo que es malo a mis ojos, eligiendo hacer lo que yo odio.

13Así que esto es lo que dice el Señor: Mis siervos comerán, pero ustedes tendrán hambre. Mis siervos beberán, pero ustedes tendrán sed. Mis siervos festejarán, pero ustedes se avergonzarán.

14¡Escuchen! Mis siervos gritarán porque están muy contentos por dentro, pero tú gritarás con el más profundo dolor, aullando porque tu espíritu está roto.

15Tu nombre sólo será usado como una maldición por mis elegidos, porque el Señor Dios te matará y dará a sus siervos otro nombre.

16Quien pida una bendición o haga un juramento en la tierra, lo hará por el único Dios verdadero, porque he olvidado los problemas del pasado: ya no los miro.

17¡Mira! Voy a crear cielos nuevos y una tierra nueva. No se recordarán las cosas pasadas; no se le pasarán a nadie por la cabeza.

18Alégrense y sean felices por siempre y para siempre en lo que voy a crear, porque haré de Jerusalén un lugar encantador, y de su gente una verdadera alegría.

19Me alegraré mucho por Jerusalén; celebraré en medio de mi pueblo. El sonido del llanto y los gritos de auxilio no volverán a oírse allí.

20Ningún bebé morirá a los pocos días, y ningún adulto morirá sin haber vivido una larga vida. Los que lleguen a los cien años serán considerados como simples niños, y los que no lleguen a los cien serán vistos como si estuvieran bajo una maldición.

21Construirán casas y vivirán en ellas; comerán el fruto de las viñas que ellos mismos plantaron.

22Ya no construirán casas para que otros vivan en ellas; ya no plantarán para que otros coman. Porque mi pueblo vivirá tanto como los árboles; mis elegidos vivirán lo suficiente para disfrutar de todo lo que han trabajado.

23No trabajarán para nada, y no tendrán hijos destinados al desastre. Porque son personas que viven bajo la bendición del Señor, y sus hijos también lo serán.

24Yo responderé incluso antes de que me pregunten. Mientras aún están hablando, les responderé.

25El lobo y el cordero comerán juntos. El león comerá paja como el buey. Las serpientes comerán polvo. Nada causará daño ni perjuicio en ninguna parte de mi santo monte, porque la tierra estará llena del conocimiento del Señor, así como el agua llena el mar.

📖 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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