Isaias, 65
The Gentiles shall seek and find Christ, but the Jews will persecute him, and be rejected, only a remnant shall be reserved. The church shall multiply, and abound with graces.
[1] They have sought me that before asked not for me, they have found me that sought me not. I said: Behold me, behold me, to a nation that did not call upon my name. •
[2] I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts. •
[3] A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face, that immolate in gardens, and sacrifice upon bricks. •
[4] That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels. •
[5] That say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day. •
[6] Behold it is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will render and repay into their bosom. •
[7] Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains, and have reproached me upon the hills; and I will measure back their first work in their bosom. •
[8] Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cluster, and it be said: Destroy it not, because it is a blessing: so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole. •
[9] And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. •
[10] And the plains shall be turned to folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor into a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. •
[11] And you, that have forsaken the Lord, that have forgotten my holy mount, that set a table for fortune, and offer libations upon it, •
[12] I will number you in the sword, and you shall all fall by slaughter: because I called and you did not answer: I spoke, and you did not hear: and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me. •
[13] Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty. •
[14] Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit.
[15] And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name. •
[16] In which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in God, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by God, amen: because the former distresses are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes. •
[17] For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart. •
[18] But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy. •
[19] And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy 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 an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. •
[21] And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them. •
[22] They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance. •
[23] My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them. •
[24] And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear. •
[25] The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. •