For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shell not come upon the heart.

“new heavens The princes above shall be renewed, and the princes of Israel shall be the upper princes and the princes of the heathens (the nations [Parshandatha]) will be lower, and so on the earth. ([K’li Paz reads:] The princes above shall be renewed, to raise up the humble and to humble the high ones, and so on the earth.) And some say that there will actually be new heavens, and that is correct, for Scripture proves it (infra 66:22): “For as the new heavens, etc.””

“בי הנני בורא שמים חדשים וגו׳ For behold, I create new heavens, etc. Some explain this verse thus: Behold, it will be as if I created, etc. The grammarian, R. Jehudah, says, that by the new heavens the creatures in heaven and earth are meant. The right explanation, however, is, that by heavens the atmosphere over the earth is meant, and the meaning of the whole sentence is: God will create a new good atmosphere, that people will be healthy and enjoy a long life; He will likewise increase the productive power of the earth, that it will be as though it were new. Those that refer the passage to the future life of man, are wrong; for it cannot thus agree with the context of the chapter, since in the future life there is neither eating nor drinking, as our sages have taught us, and this idea concerning the future life is the only true one. The former. The former troubles, as some quite correctly explain; others supply heaven and earth; but there is no sense in their explanation, as may be proved from the next verse.”

“They have sought. Here the judge, namely God, gives the sentence concerning the distinguishing of the evil from the good, in the receiving of the promised salvation. And it is divided into two parts. In the first he pronounces the sentence of distinction; in the second he determines the manner of its execution, chapter 66: Thus says the Lord. Concerning the first, two things. First he promises a response, showing the fitting occasion for responding: They have sought; as if he were to say: until now you Jews were not seeking from me, but from idols. Since you now seek, I will respond. Mystically, concerning the conversion of the Gentiles. Romans 10: I was found by those who did not seek. And he sets down the promise: I said: Behold, I am to a nation: I will respond, namely, to the Jews, or I will turn to the nations that have been converted. Song of Songs 6: I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. Second, he pronounces the sentence of distinction: I have spread out my hands; and first he pronounces the distinguishing of the evil from the good on account of the sins of transgression; second, on account of the sins of omission: And you who have forsaken. The first is divided into two. In the first he threatens the wicked with punishments; in the second he promises the good their rewards: Thus says the Lord. Concerning the first, two things. First he charges them with the fault of transgression; second he threatens the punishment: These shall be smoke. He charges them with their fault on three grounds. First, from ingratitude for his benefits: I have spread out — by giving many benefits — all the day, that is, the whole time since I took them to myself. Mystically, on the cross. Jeremiah 16: Each one walks. Second, from the continuity of their sinning: a people before the face, because all things are naked and open to his eyes. Hebrews 4. Or because they set up an idol in the temple. Deuteronomy 32: They have provoked me with that which is not God. Third, from the diversity or gravity of their sins, with respect to four things. First, with respect to the worship of idols: who sacrifice — to idols — in gardens, because they worshipped idols in pleasurable places; upon bricks — upon altars built out of bricks, so that they could sustain the fire of the sacrifice. Above, chapter 1: They shall be confounded by their idols. Second, with respect to their pursuit of divinations: who dwell among the tombs, so that they might have answers from the dead; and in shrines — temples of idols, so called from diluendo, washing away, because there they thought all things were washed clean. Or because of the fountains that were there for washing the victims. And the priests sleep — upon the skins of the victims, for the sake of divination. Ezekiel 6: Your shrines shall be broken down. Third, with respect to the uncleanness of foods: who eat; and a profane broth, of swine. Below, the last chapter: those who ate swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together. Fourth, with respect to their contempt of the just, who say — namely, to those not adoring idols; Wisdom 2: He is grievous to us; or who say — to God, Job 21: who say to God: Depart from us, we do not desire the knowledge of your ways. These shall be smoke. Here he threatens the punishment: and first the length of the punishment: smoke; that is, as smoke is consumed by fire; and they shall be kindled in my wrath. Deuteronomy 32: A fire is kindled in my fury, and shall burn even to the depths of hell. Second, the certainty of the punishment: Behold, it is written; because the sin is fixed firmly in memory, and the punishment in predetermination. I will not keep silence, dissembling. Jeremiah 17: The sin of Judah is written; above, chapter 42: I have kept silence, I have always held my peace. Third, the multitude of the punishments, because for all the sins of the fathers: but I will repay. Exodus 20: I am a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children. They have reproached — by adoring idols upon the high places; and for the sins also of their youth: and I will measure back — as if to say, I will measure the punishment to match the fault. Above, chapter 40: She has received double from the hand of the Lord. Thus says the Lord. Here he promises the good their rewards: and first, with respect to their preservation from evils: the grain, of the grape, a blessing; that is, it pleases God that it be kept in reserve as a blessing, for the sake of the servants: our fathers, that is, the whole race of the Jews. Above, chapter 17: It shall be like one gathering. Second, with respect to their advancement in goods: and first with respect to the multiplying of seed: And I will bring forth from Jacob. Above, chapter 1: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom. Second, with respect to the restoring of their ancestral inheritance: And they shall inherit. Ezekiel 36: They shall possess you as an inheritance, and you shall be their inheritance. Third, with respect to the abundance of pastures: and there shall be plains, and the valley of Achor — named from him who was stoned there, Joshua 7. Hosea 2: I will give them the valley of Achor, to open hope. And you who have forsaken. Here he distinguishes the wicked from the consolation of the good, on account of their sins of omission: and first he threatens the wicked with punishments; second, the good with rewards, because to oblivion. Concerning the first, two things. First he threatens them because they have forsaken God, setting down the fault: and you, O Jews, to Fortune — the god of the Egyptians — a table: he touches upon the rite by which it was worshipped, because at the end of the year a table was prepared for it, laden with every kind of food. Deuteronomy 32: They forsook God who made them, and departed from God their savior. Setting down also the punishment: I will number; as if to say: so that none shall remain who is not oppressed. Jeremiah 44: They shall fall by the sword and by famine. Second, because they did not obey him calling them back, setting down the fault: because I called. Proverbs 1: I called, and you refused; and he threatens the punishment of this distinction, first in the satiety of the body: therefore thus says the Lord, Psalm 33: The rich have wanted and suffered hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good. Second, in the gladness of heart: Behold, my servants shall rejoice. Wisdom 5: Doing penance. Third, in the difference of name. And first he sets down what the name of the impious shall be: and you shall leave — as an oath, so that they might confirm their words thus: if it is not so, may it happen to me just as to them. Jeremiah 44: They shall die by the sword and by famine; and they shall be for an oath, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach. And then he sets down what the name of the good shall be: and his servants — in which name, namely, the name is Jesus — Amen, that is, faithfully. Above, chapter 62: You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord has named. Because to oblivion. Here he promises the seen rewards. And first, in general, with respect to the removal of evils: because to oblivion — not from a defect of knowledge, but from the succession of goods. Above, chapter 54: You shall forget the confusion of your youth. And with respect to the restoring of goods: for behold, I create new heavens — new helps from heaven; a new earth — new benefits from the earth. Or with reference to the day of judgment, when the world shall be renewed unto the glory of the saints. Apocalypse 21: The former things have passed away. Second, in particular: for behold, I create Jerusalem. And first, with respect to the gladness of hearts: Jerusalem — the earthly one; but rather heavenly exultation, emphatically, so that it might be wholly absorbed in joy. Above, chapter 35: They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee from them. Second, with respect to the length of life: there shall no longer be one who does not fulfill — dying before his time; but the child shall die at a hundred years old, that is, when he has come to such an age; and if there be a sinner, although he has lived so long, he shall be subject to a curse. Genesis 25: Abraham died in a good old age. Mystically, in the heavenly Jerusalem all shall fulfill their days, because no one shall die. The child of a hundred years, that is, he who has lived childishly even up to the age of old age, shall die, with an eternal death. Wisdom 4: For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years. Third, with respect to the prosperity of goods: both with respect to the security of possessions, and they shall build. Psalm: And they built houses; Amos, the last chapter: They shall plant vineyards. And he assigns the reason: for according to the days, that is, because they shall live long, just as the wood of a tree lasts long. They shall grow old; that is, they shall remain for their use even unto old age. Psalm 1: He shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters. Above, chapter 49: They have labored in vain. And also with respect to the peace of their children: neither shall they beget in trouble, as those begetting children into the servitude of enemies. Ecclesiasticus 44: Good things continue with their seed. Fourth, with respect to the hearing of prayers: and it shall be, before they cry — with the mouth. Above, chapter 30: At the voice of your cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer you. Fifth, with respect to the tranquility of peace: the wolf and the lamb; because those who were formerly tyrants and evildoers shall dwell peaceably with others; above, chapter 11, the same.”

“If these promises were in part fulfilled when the Jews, after their return out of captivity, were settled in peace in their own land and brought as it were into a new world, yet they were to have their full accomplishment in the gospel church, militant first and at length triumphant. The Jerusalem that is from above is free and is the mother of us all. In the graces and comforts which believers have in and from Christ we are to look for this new heaven and new earth. It is in the gospel that old things have passed away and all things have become new, and by it that those who are in Christ are new creatures, Co2 5:17. It was a mighty and happy change that was described Isa 65:16, that the former troubles were forgotten; but here it rises much higher: even the former world shall be forgotten and shall no more come into mind. Those that were converted to the Christian faith were so transported with the comforts of it that all the comforts they were before acquainted with became as nothing to them; not only their foregoing griefs, but their foregoing joys, were lost and swallowed up in this. The glorified saints will therefore have forgotten this world, because they will be entirely taken up with the other: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. See how inexhaustible the divine power is; the same God that created one heaven and earth can create another. See how entire the happiness of the saints is; it shall be all of a piece; with the new heavens God will create them (if they have occasion for it to make them happy) a new earth too. The world is yours if you be Christ's, Co1 3:22. When God is reconciled to us, which gives us a new heaven, the creatures too are reconciled to us, which gives us a new earth. The future glory of the saints will be so entirely different from what they ever knew before that it may well be called new heavens and a new earth, Pe2 3:13. Behold, I make all things new, Rev 21:5. I. There shall be new joys. For, 1. All the church's friends, and all that belong to her, shall rejoice (Isa 65:18): You shall be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create. The new things which God creates in and by his gospel are and shall be matter of everlasting joy to all believers. My servants shall rejoice (Isa 65:13), at last they shall, though now they mourn. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 2. The church shall be the matter of their joy, so pleasant, so prosperous, shall her condition be: I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. The church shall not only rejoice but be rejoiced in. Those that have sorrowed with the church shall rejoice with her. 3. The prosperity of the church shall be a rejoicing to God himself, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants (Isa 65:19): I will rejoice in Jerusalem's joy, and will joy in my people; for in all their affliction he was afflicted. God will not only rejoice in the church's well-doing, but will himself rejoice to do her good and rest in his love to her, Zep 3:17. What God rejoices in it becomes us to rejoice in. 4. There shall be no allay of this joy, nor any alteration of this happy condition of the church: The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her. If this relate to any state of the church in this life, it means no more than that the former occasions of grief shall not return, but God's people shall long enjoy an uninterrupted tranquillity. But in heaven it shall have a full accomplishment, in respect both of the perfection and the perpetuity of the promised joy; there all tears shall be wiped away. II. There shall be new life, Isa 65:20. Untimely deaths by the sword or sickness shall be no more known as they have been, and by this means there shall be no more the voice of crying, Isa 65:19. When there shall be no more death there shall be no more sorrow, Rev 21:4. As death has reigned by sin, so life shall reign by righteousness, Rom 5:14, Rom 5:21. 1. Believers through Christ shall be satisfied with life, though it be ever so short on earth. If an infant end its days quickly, yet it shall not be reckoned to die untimely; for the shorter its life is the longer will its rest be. Though death reign over those that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, yet they, dying in the arms of Christ, the second Adam, and belonging to his kingdom, are not to be called infants of days, but even the child shall be reckoned to die a hundred years old, for he shall rise again at full age, shall rise to eternal life. Some understand it of children who in their childhood are so eminent for wisdom and grace, and by death nipped in the blossom, that they may be said to die a hundred years old. And, as for old men, it is promised that they shall fill their days with the fruits of righteousness, which they shall still bring forth in old age, to show that the Lord is upright, and then it is a good old age. An old man who is wise, and good, and useful, may truly be said to have filled his days. Old men who have their hearts upon the world have never filled their days, never have enough of this world, but would still continue longer in it. But that man dies old, and satur dierum - full of days, who, with Simeon, having seen God's salvation, desires now to depart in peace. 2. Unbelievers shall be unsatisfied and unhappy in life, though it be ever so long. The sinner, though he live to a hundred years old, shall be accursed. His living so long shall be no token to him of the divine favour and blessing, nor shall it be any shelter to him from the divine wrath and curse. The sentence he lies under will certainly be executed, and his long life is but a long reprieve; nay, it is itself a curse to him, for the longer he lives the more wrath he treasures up against the day of wrath and the more sins he will have to answer for. So that the matter is not great whether our lives on earth be long or short, but whether we live the lives of saints or the lives of sinners. III. There shall be a new enjoyment of the comforts of life. Whereas before it was very uncertain and precarious, their enemies inhabited the houses which they built and ate the fruit of the trees which they planted, now it shall be otherwise; they shall build houses and inhabit them, shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, Isa 65:21, Isa 65:22. Their intimates that the labour of their hands shall be blessed and be made to prosper; they shall gain what they aimed at, and what they have gained shall be preserved and secured to them; they shall enjoy it comfortably, and nothing shall embitter it to them, and they shall live to enjoy it long. Strangers shall not break in upon them, to expel them, and plant themselves in their room, as sometimes they have done: My elect shall wear out, or long enjoy, the work of their hands; it is honestly got, and it will wear well; it is the work of their hands, which they themselves have laboured for, and it is most comfortable to enjoy that, and not to eat the bread of idleness, or bread of deceit. If we have a heart to enjoy it, that is the gift of God's grace (Ecc 3:13); and, if we live to enjoy it long, it is the gift of God's providence, for that is here promised: As the days of a tree are the days of my people; as the days of an oak (Isa 6:13), whose substance is in it, though it cast its leaves; though it be stripped every winter, it recovers itself again, and lasts many ages; as the days of the tree of life; so the Septuagint. Christ is to them the tree of life, and in him believers enjoy all those spiritual comforts which are typified by the abundance of temporal blessings here promised; and it shall not be in the power of their enemies to deprive them of these blessings or disturb them in the enjoyment of them. IV. There shall be a new generation rising up in their stead to inherit and enjoy these blessings (Isa 65:23): They shall not labour in vain, for they shall not only enjoy the work of their hands themselves, but they shall leave it with satisfaction to those that shall come after them, and not with such a melancholy prospect as Solomon did, Ecc 2:18, Ecc 2:19. They shall not beget and bring forth children for trouble; for they are themselves the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and there is a blessing entailed upon them by descent from their ancestors which their offspring with them shall partake of, and shall be, as well as they, the seed of the blessed of the Lord. They shall not bring forth for trouble; for, 1. God will make their children that rise up comforts to them; they shall have the joy of seeing them walk in the truth. 2. He will make the times that come after comfortable to their children. As they shall be good, so it shall be well with them; they shall not be brought forth to days of trouble; nor shall it ever be said, Blessed is the womb that bore not. In the gospel church Christ's name shall be borne up by a succession. A seed shall serve him (Psa 22:30), the seed of the blessed of the Lord. V. There shall be a good correspondence between them and their God (Isa 65:24): Even before they call, I will answer. God will anticipate their prayers with the blessings of his goodness. David did but say, I will confess, and God forgave, Psa 32:5. The father of the prodigal met him in his return. While they are yet speaking, before they have finished their prayer, I will give them the thing they pray for, or the assurances and earnests of it. These are high expressions of God's readiness to hear prayer; and this appears much more in the grace of the gospel than it did under the law; we owe the comfort of it to the mediation of Christ as our advocate with the Father and are obliged in gratitude to give a ready ear to God's calls. VI. There shall be a good correspondence between them and their neighbours (Isa 65:25): The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, as they did in Noah's ark. God's people, though they are as sheep in the midst of wolves, shall be safe and unhurt; for God will not so much break the power and tie the hands of their enemies as formerly, but he will turn their hearts, will alter their dispositions by his grace. When Paul, who had been a persecutor of the disciples (and who, being of the tribe of Benjamin, ravened as a wolf, Gen 49:27) joined himself to them and became one of them, then the wolf and the lamb fed together. So also when the enmity between Jews and Gentiles was slain, all hostilities ceased, and they fed together as one sheepfold under Christ the great Shepherd, Joh 10:16. The enemies of the church ceased to do the mischief they had done, and its members ceased to be so quarrelsome with and injurious to one another as they had been, so that there was none either from without or from within to hurt or destroy, none to disturb it, much less to ruin it, in all the holy mountain; as was promised, Isa 11:9. For, 1. Men shall be changed: The lion shall no more be a beast of prey, as perhaps he never would have been if sin had not entered, but shall eat straw like the bullock, shall know his owner, and his master's crib, as the ox does. When those that lived by spoil and rapine, and coveted to enrich themselves, right or wrong, are brought by the grace of God to accommodate themselves to their condition, to live by honest labour, and to be content with such things as they have - when those that stole steal no more, but work with their hands the thing that is good - then this is fulfilled, that the lion shall eat straw like the bullock. 2. Satan shall be chained, the dragon bound; for dust shall be the serpent's meat again. That great enemy, when he has been let loose, has glutted and regaled himself with the precious blood of saints, who by his instigation have been persecuted, and with the precious souls of sinners, who by his instigation have become persecutors and have ruined themselves for ever; but now he shall be confined to dust, according to the sentence, On thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat, Gen 3:14. All the enemies of God's church, that are subtle and venomous as serpents, shall be conquered and subdued, and be made to lick the dust, Christ shall reign as Zion's King till all the enemies of his kingdom be made his footstool, and theirs too. In the holy mountain above, and there only, shall this promise have its full accomplishment, that there shall be none to hurt nor destroy.”

“New earth, in eternity, (Clarius) or here indeed, (2 Peter iii. 3., &c.; Houbigant) having purified the former by the general conflagration, which many assert will take place at the end of 6,000 years. (St. Jerome; St. Augustine, &c.) At the return of the captives, the country flourished again under the Machabees; (ver. 18.; Grotius) or rather the gospel changes the face of the earth, chap. lxvi. 22. (Calmet) (Forerius) — After the resurrection the qualities, and not the substance, of the world, will be changed. (Worthington)”

“As Caleb inherited the same land which his feet trod on (Deu 1:36; Jos 14:9), so Messiah and His saints shall inherit the renovated earth which once they trod while defiled by the enemy (Isa 34:4; Isa 51:16; Isa 66:22; Eze 21:27; Psa 2:8; Psa 37:11; Pe2 3:13; Heb 12:26-28 Rev 21:1). not be remembered--See on Isa 65:16, note on "troubles"; the words here answer to "the former . . . forgotten," &c. The former sorrows of the earth, under the fall, shall be so far from recurring, that their very remembrance shall be obliterated by the many mercies I will bestow on the new earth (Rev. 21:4-27).”

“The fact that they have thus passed away is now still further explained; the prophet heaping up one kı̄ (for) upon another, as in Isa 9:3-5. "For behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; and men will not remember the first, nor do they come to any one's mind. No, be ye joyful and exult for ever at that which I create: for behold I turn Jerusalem into exulting, and her people into joy. And I shall exult over Jerusalem, and be joyous over my people, and the voice of weeping and screaming will be heard in her no more." The promise here reaches its culminating point, which had already been seen from afar in Isa 51:16. Jehovah creates a new heaven and a new earth, which bind so fast with their glory, and which so thoroughly satisfy all desires, that there is no thought of the former ones, and no one wishes them back again. Most of the commentators, from Jerome to Hahn, suppose the ri'shōnōth in Isa 65:16 to refer to the former sorrowful times. Calvin says, "The statement of the prophet, that there will be no remembrance of former things, is supposed by some to refer to the heaven and the earth, as if he meant, that henceforth neither the fame nor even the name of either would any more be heard; but I prefer to refer them to the former times." But the correctness of the former explanation is shown by the parallel in Jer 3:16, which stands in by no means an accidental relation to this passage, and where it is stated that in the future there will be no ark of the covenant, "neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it," inasmuch as all Jerusalem will be the throne of Jehovah, and not merely the capporeth with its symbolical cherubim. This promise is also a glorious one; but Jeremiah and all the other prophets fall short of the eagle-flight of Isaiah, of whom the same may be said as of John, "volat avis sine meta." Luther (like Zwingli and Stier) adopts the correct rendering, "that men shall no more remember the former ones (i.e., the old heaven and old earth), nor take it to heart." But ‛âlâh ‛al-lēbh signifies to come into the mind, not "to take to heart," and is applied to a thing, the thought of which "ascends" within us, and with which we are inwardly occupied. There is no necessity to take the futures in Isa 65:17 as commands (Hitzig); for אם־שׂישׂוּ כּי (כי with muach, as in Ven. 1521, after the Masora to Num 35:33) fits on quite naturally, even if we take them as simple predictions. Instead of such a possible, though not actual, calling back and wishing back, those who survive the new times are called upon rather to rejoice for ever in that which Jehovah is actually creating, and will have created then. אשׁר, if not regarded as the accusative-object, is certainly regarded as the object of causality, "in consideration of that which" (cf., Isa 31:6; Gen 3:17; Jdg 8:15), equivalent to, "on account of that which" (see at Isa 64:4; Isa 35:1). The imperatives sı̄sū vegı̄lū are not words of admonition so much as words of command, and kı̄ gives the reason in this sense: Jehovah makes Jerusalem gı̄lâh and her people mâsōs (accusative of the predicate, or according to the terminology adopted in Becker's syntax, the "factitive object," Ges. 139, 2), by making joy its perpetual state, its appointed condition of life both inwardly and outwardly. Nor is it joy on the part of the church only, but on the part of its God as well (see the primary passages in Deu 30:9). When the church thus rejoices in God, and God in the church, so that the light of the two commingle, and each is reflected in the other; then will no sobbing of weeping ones, no sound of lamentation, be heard any more in Jerusalem (see the opposite side as expressed in Isa 51:3).”