Text -- Isaiah 66:19-24 (NET)

66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them and then send some of those who remain to the nations– to Tarshish, Pul, Lud (known for its archers), Tubal, Javan, and to the distant coastlands that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor. 66:20 They will bring back all your countrymen from all the nations as an offering to the Lord. They will bring them on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules, and on camels to my holy hill Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring offerings to the Lord’s temple in ritually pure containers. 66:21 And I will choose some of them as priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 66:22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain. 66:23 From one month to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people will come to worship me,” says the Lord. 66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, and the fire that consumes them will not die out. All people will find the sight abhorrent.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 66:19

¹ tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).

² tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).

³ sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).

⁴ tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).

⁵ sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).

⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV).

NET Notes: Isa 66:20

¹ tn Heb “brothers” (so NIV); NCV “fellow Israelites.”

² tn The words “they will bring them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn The precise meaning of this word is uncertain. Some suggest it refers to “chariots.” See HALOT 498 s.v. *כִּרְכָּרָה.

NET Notes: Isa 66:23

¹ tn Heb “new moon.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

² tn Heb “all flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NAB, NASB, NIV “all mankind”; NLT “All humanity.”

³ tn Or “bow down before” (NASB).

NET Notes: Isa 66:24

¹ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

² tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

³ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.