Isaiah 65:17-20

65:17 For look, I am ready to create

new heavens and a new earth! ¹ 

The former ones ²  will not be remembered;

no one will think about them anymore. ³ 

65:18 But be happy and rejoice forevermore

over what I am about to create!

For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem ⁴  to be a source of joy, ⁵ 

and her people to be a source of happiness. ⁶ 

65:19 Jerusalem will bring me joy,

and my people will bring me happiness. ⁷ 

The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow

will never be heard in her again.

65:20 Never again will one of her infants live just a few days ⁸ 

or an old man die before his time. ⁹ 

Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, ¹⁰ 

anyone who fails to reach ¹¹  the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.

[65:17]  ¹ sn This hyperbolic statement likens the coming transformation of Jerusalem (see vv. 18-19) to a new creation of the cosmos.

[65:17]  ² tn Or perhaps, “the former things” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “The events of the past.”

[65:17]  ³ tn Heb “and they will not come up on the mind.”

[65:18]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[65:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “Jerusalem, joy.” The next verse suggests the meaning: The Lord will create Jerusalem to be a source of joy to himself.

[65:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “her people, happiness.” See the preceding note.

[65:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be happy in my people.”

[65:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there will not be from there again a nursing infant of days,” i.e., one that lives just a few days.

[65:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “or an old [man] who does not fill out his days.”

[65:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for the child as a son of one hundred years will die.” The point seems to be that those who die at the age of a hundred will be considered children, for the average life span will be much longer than that. The category “child” will be redefined in light of the expanded life spans that will characterize this new era.

[65:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the one who misses.” חָטָא (khata’) is used here in its basic sense of “miss the mark.” See HALOT 305 s.v. חטא. Another option is to translate, “and the sinner who reaches the age of a hundred will be cursed.”