Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 65

Verse 1

65:1 I am sought by [them that] {a} asked not [for me]; I am found by [them that] sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, to a nation [that] was not called by my name.

(a) Meaning, the Gentiles who know not God, would seek him, when he had moved their heart with his Holy Spirit, Romans 10:20 .

Verse 2

65:2 I have {b} spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, which walketh in a way [that is] not good, after their own {c} thoughts;

(b) He shows the reason for the rejection of the Jews, because they would not obey him or any admonition of his prophets, by whom he called them continually and stretch out his hand to draw them.

(c) He shows that to delight in our own fantasies is the declining from God and the beginning of all superstitions and idolatry.

Verse 3

65:3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in {d} gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of {e} brick;

(d) Which were dedicated to idols.

(e) Meaning their altars, which he thus named by contempt.

Verse 4

65:4 Which remain among the {f} graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat {g} swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable [things is in] their vessels;

(f) To consult with spirits, and to conjure devils, which was forbidden.

(g) Which was contrary to God’s commandment, Leviticus 11:7, De 14:8 .

Verse 5

65:5 Which say, {h} Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These [are] a smoke in my nose, a fire that {i} burneth all the day.

(h) He shows that hypocrisy is always joined with pride and contempt of others.

(i) Their punishment will never have an end.

Verse 6

65:6 Behold, [it is] {k} written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

(k) So that the remembrance of it cannot be forgotten.

Verse 7

65:7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers {l} together, saith the LORD, who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

(l) Will be both punished together: and this declares how the children are punished for their fathers faults, that is, when the same faults or like are found in them.

Verse 8

65:8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and [one] saith, Destroy it not; for a {m} blessing [is] in it: so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.

(m) That is, it is profitable: meaning that God will not destroy the faithful branches of his vineyard, when he destroys the rotten stocks, that is, the hypocrites.

Verse 10

65:10 And {n} Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

(n) Which was a plentiful place in Judea to feed sheep, as Achor was for cattle.

Verse 11

65:11 But ye [are] they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that {o} troop, and that furnish the drink offering to that number.

(o) By the multitude and number he means their innumerable idols of whom they thought they could never have enough.

Verse 12

65:12 Therefore will I {p} number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I {q} spoke, ye did not hear; but did evil before my eyes, and did choose [that] in which I delighted not.

(p) Seeing you cannot number your gods, I will number you with the sword.

(q) By my prophets, whom you would not obey.

Verse 13

65:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall {r} eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

(r) By these words, eat and drink, he means the blessed life of the faithful, who have always had consolation and full contentment of all things in their God, though sometimes they lack these corporal things.

Verse 15

65:15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my {s} chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by {t} another name:

(s) Meaning, that he would call the Gentiles, who would abhor even the very name of the Jews for their infidelities sake.

(t) Than by the name of the Jews.

Verse 16

65:16 That he who blesseth himself in the {u} earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former {x} troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.

(u) By blessing, and by swearing is meant the praising of God for his benefits, and the true worshipping of him, who will not be only in Judea, but through all the world.

(x) I will no longer permit my Church to be desolate as in times past.

Verse 17

65:17 For, behold, I create {y} new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

(y) I will so altar and change the state of my church, that it will seem to dwell in a new world.

Verse 20

65:20 There shall be no more from there an infant of days, nor an old man that hath {z} not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner [being] {a} an hundred years old shall be accursed.

(z) Meaning, in this wonderful restoration of the Church there would be no weakness of youth, nor infirmities of age, but all would be fresh and flourishing: and this is accomplished in the heavenly Jerusalem, when all sins will cease, and the tears will be wiped away.

(a) By which he shows that the infidels and unrepentant sinners have no part of this benediction.

Verse 21

65:21 And they shall {b} build houses, and inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

(b) He proposes to the faithful the blessings which are contained in the law, and so under temporal things comprehends the spiritual promises.

Verse 25

65:25 The {c} wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox: and dust [shall be] the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

(c) Read Isaiah 11:6 .