Isaiah 66

Isaiah closes his book with God’s final word. God rejects empty religion and honors the humble who tremble at His word. He promises to bring Zion to birth, to comfort His people like a mother, and to judge His enemies. His glory will reach every nation, and the new heavens and new earth will endure. The book ends with a solemn picture of worship and warning.

Isaiah 66:1

God is so great that no building can hold Him. Heaven is His throne, and the whole earth is only a footstool under His feet. He does not need a house from us. The verse humbles every attempt to contain or use God.

BSA: footstool (“a low stool to rest My feet”): The whole earth is a small thing beneath God, which shows how far above it He sits.

Hebrew: מְנוּחָתִי (menuchati, H4496) — “my resting place.” The word means a place of rest and quiet. God asks what human building could ever be His rest, since He made everything.

See also: Acts 7:48-50; 1 Kings 8:27.

Isaiah 66:2

God made everything, so He needs nothing from us. What He looks on with favor is a person who is lowly, broken before Him, and takes His word seriously. He values a humble heart more than any grand offering.

BSA: contrite (“crushed, broken”): This is a heart that has truly been broken over sin, not one that merely feels a little sorry. trembles (“is fearful, reverent”): The trembling is reverence that takes God’s word seriously, not terror that runs away.

Hebrew: חָרֵד (chared, H2730) — “trembling, reverently anxious.” The word pictures someone who shakes with awe before God. It marks the person who takes God’s word seriously.

See also: Isaiah 57:15; Psalm 51:17.

Isaiah 66:3

God is not against sacrifice, which He Himself commanded. He is against sacrifice offered by people who are also practicing idolatry and wickedness. In their case the ox, lamb, grain and incense are as offensive to Him as murder and idolatry. Ritual cannot cover a heart set on its own way.

BSA: abominations (“disgusting things, wickedness”): God sees their chosen practices as loathsome, however religious the outward ritual looks.

Hebrew: מִנְחָה (minchah, H4503) — “grain offering, gift.” This is the ordinary word for a gift brought to God. The same word returns in verse 20 for something truly acceptable to Him.

See also: Isaiah 1:11-17.

Isaiah 66:4

People chose their own way, so God lets them have it. He had called and spoken, and they would not answer or listen. Now what they dreaded will come upon them. Their punishment is fitted to their choice.

BSA: punishment (“delusions, caprice”): God gives them over to their own deceptions and the fruit of their own choices. called (“summoned, invited”): God had come with an invitation. Their refusal was a rejection of that call.

See also: Proverbs 1:24-26.

Isaiah 66:5

God speaks to the faithful who tremble at His word. Their own countrymen hate them and shut them out because of God’s name. These mockers say, in effect, ‘Let God show His glory, then.’ God promises that the mockers will be put to shame and His people will have joy.

BSA: exclude (“drive away or cast out”): The faithful were driven out of their own community because of loyalty to God. name (“My identity, honor, and character”): Their suffering came from belonging to God Himself, not from some private quarrel.

See also: John 16:2.

Isaiah 66:6

A great noise rises from the city and the temple. It is the LORD acting as judge, giving His enemies exactly what they deserve. The very place where people played at religion now hears God’s real voice.

BSA: repaying (“rendering recompense, giving back”): God does not act at random. He pays back in full what has been earned.

Isaiah 66:7

The picture is a birth with no labor. A son arrives before the pains begin. God’s rescue of Zion will come suddenly and surprisingly, far faster and easier than anyone expects.

BSA: delivered (“was delivered of, gave birth to”): The birth is not the result of long effort but a gift God brings about quickly.

Isaiah 66:8

Nobody has ever heard of a nation born in a single day. Yet that is what God promises. Zion no sooner goes into labor than her children are born. God can do in an instant what seems to need centuries.

BSA: nation (“people, Gentile”): The word can mean a people, so the picture may reach beyond Israel’s own borders. children (“sons, descendants”): Zion is pictured as a mother with a whole family brought forth together.

See also: Galatians 4:26.

Isaiah 66:9

God asks two questions. Would He bring a child to the point of birth and then stop? Would He who delivers shut the womb? The answer is no. What God begins in His people He will finish.

BSA: deliver (“not bring forth, not give birth to”): God casts Himself as the one who brings new life into the world.

See also: Philippians 1:6.

Isaiah 66:10-11

Everyone who loves Jerusalem, even those who have grieved over her, is invited to rejoice with her. The city is pictured as a mother. Her children drink deeply at her breasts and are satisfied. God gives comfort and plenty to those who stayed faithful through sorrow.

BSA: mourn (“lament, grieve”): Those who grieved over Jerusalem’s ruin are the very ones invited into her joy. satisfied (“filled to the full, content”): The nourishment is complete. There is no hunger left.

Isaiah 66:12

God will send peace like a river and the riches of the nations like a flowing stream. His people will be held like nursing children, carried on the arm and bounced on the knee. The picture is of abundance together with tender, playful affection.

BSA: peace (“shalom, completeness and wellness”): This is not just quiet but wholeness in every part of life. bounced (“dandled, delighted in”): God does more than care for His people. He delights in them as a parent delights in a child.

Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם (shalom, H7965) — “peace, wholeness, well-being.” Shalom covers health, safety and right relationships. Likening it to a river means it keeps coming and does not run dry.

See also: Isaiah 48:18.

Isaiah 66:13

God uses a mother’s comfort as His own. As a mother soothes her hurt child, so He will comfort His people. It is a tender picture of God’s care. Their consolation will be bound up with Jerusalem restored.

BSA: comforts (“who lovingly cares for her child”): The comfort is warm and personal, like a mother holding her child.

Hebrew: אֲנַחֶמְכֶם (anachemkhem, H5162) — “I will comfort you.” This comes from the same root as Isaiah 40:1, ‘Comfort, comfort My people.’ The book that begins with comfort ends with it.

See also: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; Isaiah 40:1.

Isaiah 66:14

When God’s people see His promises come true, their hearts will rejoice and they will flourish like fresh grass. The same act of God shows two faces. His hand brings blessing to His servants and wrath to His enemies.

BSA: revealed (“made known, disclosed”): God’s power has been at work all along, and now it will be plainly seen. servants (“those who obey, worship”): The blessing belongs to those who truly belong to God and follow Him.

Isaiah 66:15-16

The LORD is coming in fire, with chariots like a whirlwind, to carry out judgment. His fire and sword fall on all flesh, and many are slain. This is not random violence but God setting wrong right. It reminds the reader that God’s holiness is serious.

BSA: whirlwind (“hurricane, storm”): God’s coming is as overwhelming and unstoppable as a great storm. judgment (“a verdict, a sentence”): This is a just ruling from the rightful Judge, not an outburst of temper.

See also: 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8.

Isaiah 66:17

Some prepare themselves with ritual cleansing for idol worship in hidden groves. They also eat forbidden things, which God had declared unclean. God sees through such twisted religion. All who join in it will come to an end together.

BSA: consecrate (“set apart as holy”): They go through the motions of holiness, but they direct it to false gods. perish (“come to an end, be consumed”): Their end is final and complete.

Isaiah 66:18

God knows what people do and what they think. Nothing is hidden from Him. He will gather people from every nation and language, and they will come and see His glory. His plan was always bigger than one nation.

BSA: glory (“splendor, majestic honor”): What the nations will see is God Himself in all His weight and majesty. tongues (“languages, dialects”): People of every language are gathered, with no one left out.

See also: Revelation 7:9.

Isaiah 66:19

God will set a sign among the nations. He will send survivors to far-off lands that have never heard of Him, and those survivors will announce His glory. The list of places is a way of naming the distant west, south and north. God’s good news is meant to go out to the world.

BSA: survivors (“refugees, fugitives”): God sends out people who escaped, as witnesses of what He has done. sign (“miraculous token, wonder”): God gives something unmistakable to point the nations to Him.

Hebrew: אוֹת (ot, H226) — “sign, mark.” This is the word used for a visible pledge from God. It marks that what happens is His doing.

See also: Matthew 28:19.

Isaiah 66:20

People from the nations will bring Israel’s scattered brothers back to Jerusalem as a gift to the LORD. They come by every kind of transport. God compares this to the offerings Israelites bring in clean vessels. A people gathered to Him is itself an offering.

BSA: gift (“offering, present”): The returning people themselves are the offering placed before God. clean (“pure, ceremonially clean”): What is brought to God must be fit for Him, and He makes it so.

Hebrew: מִנְחָה (minchah, H4503) — “offering, gift.” This is the same word used in verse 3 for a grain offering God despised. Here a true minchah is brought with right hearts and gladly received.

See also: Romans 15:16.

Isaiah 66:21

God will also choose some of these people to serve as priests and Levites. Those once outside become servants in His house. The verse does not say exactly who the ‘some of them’ are, but it shows God widening the circle of those who may draw near.

BSA: select (“choose, take”): The calling is God’s own choice, not something earned. priests (“spiritual leaders, mediators”): Priests stand between people and God. This is a place of nearness.

See also: 1 Peter 2:9.

Isaiah 66:22

God anchors His promise to His people in the new heavens and new earth. As surely as that new creation will stand, so will their descendants and their name. His people’s future is as sure as His own work.

BSA: endure (“remain, last forever”): What God makes does not fade, and His people’s place in it is secure.

Hebrew: יַעֲמֹד (ya’amod, H5975) — “will stand, will remain.” The word means to stand firm. The new creation and God’s people both stand before Him and do not fall.

See also: 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1.

Isaiah 66:23

In the renewed world, worship becomes steady and regular. Month after month and week after week, all mankind comes to bow before God. Worship is no longer a duty for some but the joy of everyone.

BSA: worship (“bow down, give reverence”): The worship is bodily and humble, bowing before the One who is worthy. mankind (“all flesh”): Every kind of person is included, not only one people.

Hebrew: לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺת (lehishtachavot, H7812) — “to bow down.” The word pictures bowing low to the ground. True worship is the whole person yielding to God.

See also: Zechariah 14:16.

Isaiah 66:24

The book ends with a sober warning. Those who rebelled against God are seen as corpses, their end unending. Their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched. It is a picture of what it means to be finally cut off from God, and it urges the reader to take His word seriously.

BSA: rebelled (“transgressed, revolted”): This is a deliberate turning against God, not a mere slip. quenched (“extinguished, put out”): The fire cannot be put out, which shows how final the judgment is.

Hebrew: דֵּרָאוֹן (dera’on, H1860) — “horror, loathing.” This rare word means something that makes people recoil. The same word appears in Daniel 12:2 about everlasting shame.

See also: Mark 9:48; Daniel 12:2.