The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 65 God promises to hear prayer and grant blessings to His servants

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 65

God promises to hear prayer and grant blessings to His servants

1 I was sought by those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me: To a people who were not called by my name I said, “Here I am.”

2 All day long I have stretched out my hands to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own thoughts;

3 A people who continually provoke me to anger to my face, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks;

4 Sitting by the graves, and spending the night in secret places: eating swine's flesh and broth of abominable things in their vessels.

5 And they say, “Keep away, and do not come near me, for I am holier than you.” These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.

6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silent; But I will repay them, yes, I will repay them into their bosom:

7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the Lord, who burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills; therefore I will measure out their former deeds into their bosom.

8 Thus says the Lord: As when juice is found in a cluster of grapes, people say, “Do not waste it, for there is a blessing in it,” so I will do for the sake of my servants, so that I may not destroy them all.

9 I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah an heir who will possess my mountains; my chosen ones will inherit the land, and my servants will dwell there.

10 Sharon will become a fold for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds, for my people who have sought me.

11 But as for you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for fortune and mix wine for Destiny—

12 I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because I called, and you did not answer; I spoke, and you did not listen; but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I had no pleasure.

13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall go hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall go thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed.

14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry out in sorrow of spirit, and wail for your brokenness of spirit.

15 And you will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse; and the Lord God will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name.

16 So that he who blesses himself in the earth will be blessed in the God of truth, and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and are hidden from my eyes.

17 For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

18 But you shall rejoice and exult forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and exult in my people; and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

20 There shall no more be in it an infant who lives but a few days, nor an old man who does not fulfill his days; For the young man will die at a hundred years old, but the sinner at a hundred years old will be accursed.

21 They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 They will not build so that others may inhabit; they will not plant so that others may eat; for the days of the tree, and my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.

23 They will not labor in vain, nor bear children for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.

24 Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.