Trinity/After Pentecost · The Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Trinity
Isaiah 65:17-25
New Heavens and a New Earth
November 29, 2026
Overview & Insights
“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered.” (Isaiah 65:17)
In these last two chapters of the book, once more we cannot discern an order or structure. The succession of phrases that look like introductions to prophecies (65:8, 13, 25; 66:1, 5, 12, 22) and the movement between verse and prose suggest that here it is not because a prophet let a stream of consciousness have its way. It is, rather, because a number of separate prophecies have been accumulated at the end of the book. These different prophecies have overlapping themes, and this has presumably contributed to the arrangement. The prophecies also have a number of points of contact with 56:1–59:8, and this may have contributed to their placement here in the chiasm that comprises chapters 56–66 as a whole. Further, the way they rework images such as heavens and earth and the servants of Yahweh may have contributed to their location at the close of the book. The chapters form a conclusion to the book as a whole.
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Commentary
Enduring Word Bible Commentary Isaiah Chapter 65 Enduring Word · David Guzik
David Guzik works through the promise of new heavens and a new earth and the peaceable kingdom.
Isaiah 65:17 Commentaries BibleHub
Classic and modern commentary voices on the new creation where the former things are not remembered.
Isaiah 65:17-25 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
A Reformed preaching commentary reading the new creation as a picture of the long effects of Easter.
Commentary on Isaiah 65:17-25 Working Preacher
Luther Seminary scholarship on the joy and renewal of the new heavens and new earth for this exact reading.
Background & Word Study
Enter the Bible: Isaiah Enter the Bible
Background on Isaiah's setting and the hope-filled visions of its later chapters.
BibleProject: Overview of Isaiah 40-66 BibleProject
An animated overview of Isaiah's second half, where the new creation vision belongs.
Isaiah 65:17 Interlinear BibleHub
Hebrew word-by-word text with parsing for the language of creating, rejoicing, and peace.
Sefaria: Isaiah 65 Sefaria
The Hebrew text with Jewish commentary and translations for the chapter.
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
What is the new creation?
God promises new heavens and a new earth, Jerusalem a joy and no more weeping; the wolf and the lamb feed together, and none shall hurt or destroy on his holy mountain (Isaiah 65:17–25).
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