Isaiah 65:17 (WEB)
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Isaiah 65:17–18 (KJV)
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Key words
- שָׁמַיִם חֲדָשִׁים וָאָרֶץ חֲדָשָׁהshamayim chadashim va'arets chadashah · Hebrew
- 'new heavens and a new earth' — the oracle of the new creation that immediately precedes the painless birth of 66:7.
Why it matters
God promises a new heavens and a new earth in which the former things are not remembered. Pitre's first observation on Isaiah 66:7 is that it comes right after this new-creation oracle (pp 120–121): the birth without labour is an act of the new creation, undoing the curse of Genesis 3:16. That is why the Fathers read Mary's painless birth of Jesus as a sign that the new creation had begun.