Isaiah 65:11
in Isaiah 65But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But ye that forsake Jehovah, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for Fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny;
KJV
But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
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This verse in Isaiah 65
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
But ye are they that forsake the Lord - Or rather, ‘Ye who forsake Yahweh, and who forget my holy mountain, I will number to the sword.’ The design of this verse is to remind them of their idolatries, and to assure them that they should not escape unpunished. That forget my holy mountain - Mount Moriah, the sacred mountain on which the temple was built.
This site's exposition
But you who forsake the LORD
on Isaiah 65:11-12
Those “who set a table for Fortune” keep a rival cult of fate. The Hebrew names the gods Gad, fortune, and Meni, destiny, and plays on the second name: “I will destine you for the sword”. The charge is their silence: “because I called and you did not answer”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Verse 11, 12.) And you who have forsaken the Lord, and have forgotten my holy mountain. You who set a table for fortune, and pour out libations upon it. I will number you for the sword, and you shall all fall in the slaughter. LXX: But you who have forsaken me, and have forgotten my holy mountain, and prepare a table for fortune, and fill a cup for the demon: I will deliver you to the sword; you shall all be killed. In the former wilderness and chaos. In the lands of the Gentiles there will be sheepfolds, that is, the Churches of all believers from the whole world. But you, O people of Israel, who have forsaken the Lord and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, who have forgotten His holy mountain, of which we have frequently spoken, or the Lord Savior, who is the mountain of mountains, and all holy ones, or Mount Zion, and the heavenly city of the living God, Jerusalem, who do these things and these things, I will deliver you to the sword, so that you all may be killed together. If you ask what the sword is, we shall say later: You set out a table for Fortune, he says, and pour libations on it; or, according to the Seventy: You prepare a table for Fortune, and fill a cup for a demon, or κέρασμα, as all the translators similarly rendered it, that is, a mixed potion. Now, in all cities, especially in Egypt and Alexandria, there is an ancient custom of idolatry, that on the last day of the year and month, which is the last, they set out a table filled with various kinds of food, and a cup mixed with honeyed wine, either wishing for the fertility of the past year or that of the coming year. But the Israelites were doing this, venerating the monstrous images of all the idols at once, and not offering sacrifices on the altar, but pouring out this kind of offering on the table. […]
In the former wilderness and chaos. In the lands of the Gentiles there will be sheepfolds, that is, the Churches of all believers from the whole world.
If a person, because he is too tenacious of life or too weak in the face of suffering, or because of the apparently convincing arguments of such as seek to induce us to accept the evil choice, has denied the one and only God and his Christ and borne testimony to demons or goddesses of fortune, then this person must realize that in doing this he is "setting," as it were, "a table for the demon and offering libations" to Fortune, "forsaking the Lord" and "forgetting his holy mount." He will incur the reproaches written in Isaiah.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And you, that have forsaken. Here he separates the wicked from the consolation of the good, because of their sins of omission. And first, he threatens punishment for the wicked; second, he promises rewards for the good: because the former distresses are forgotten (Isa 65:16). …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Forget - To forget God's holy mountains, signifies not to regard the true worship of God. God calls Zion his holy mountain. That troop - The idols of the ten tribes, and of the Assyrians, were a troop, where as the God of Israel was one God.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " You are those who, instead of seeking me and serving me as my people, forsake the Lord, disown him, and cast him off to embrace other gods, who forget my holy mountain (the privileges it confers and the obligations it lays you under) to burn incense upon the mountains of your idols (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+odd-straight-quotes
But ye are they that forsake the Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
holy mountain--Moriah, on which the temple was. troop--rather "Gad," the Babylonian god of fortune, the planet Jupiter, answering to Baal or Bel; the Arabs called it "the Greater Good Fortune"; and the planet Venus answering to Meni, "the Lesser Good Fortune" [GESENIUS, KIMCHI, &c.].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
That prepare a table for that troop “Who set in order a table for Gad” - The disquisitions and conjectures of the learned concerning Gad and Meni are infinite and uncertain: perhaps the most probable may be, that Gad means good fortune, and Meni the moon. “But why should we be solicitous about it?” says Schmidius. “It appears sufficiently, from the circumstances, that they were false gods; either stars, or some natural objects; or a mere fiction. The Holy Scriptures did not deign to explain more clearly what these objects of idolatrous worship were; but chose rather, that the memory of the knowledge of them should be utterly abolished. And God be praised, that they are so totally abolished, that we are now quite at a loss to know what and what sort of things they were.” Schmidius on the place, and on Jdg 2:13, Bibl. Hallensia. Jerome, on the place, gives an account of this idolatrous practice of the apostate Jews, of making a feast, or a lectisternium, as the Romans called it, for these pretended deities. Est in cunctis urbibus, et maxime in Aegypto, et in Alexandria, idololatriae vetus consuetudo, ut ultimo die anni, et mensis ejus qui extremus est, ponant mensam refertam varii generis epulis, et poculum mulso mixtum; vel praeteriti anni vel futuri fertilitatem auspicantes. Hoc autem faciebant et Israelitae, omnium simulachrorum portenta venerantes; et nequaquam altari victimas, sed hujusmodi mensae liba fundebant. “In all cities, and especially in Egypt and Alexandria, it was an ancient idolatrous custom on the last day of the year, to spread a table covered with various kinds of viands, and a goblet mixed with new wine, referring to the fertility either of the past or coming year. The Israelites did the same, worshipping all kinds of images, and pouring out libations on such tables,” etc. See also Le Clerc on the place; and on Isa 66:17, and Dav. Millii Dissert. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
who forsake the Lord The wicked of Israel who adopted paganism and died in their wickedness.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאַתֶּם֙ | veatem | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| עֹזְבֵ֣י | ʾozevei | [who] forsake | H5800 → | 215 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | <of> Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| הַשְּׁכֵחִ֖ים | hashekhechim | <the> forgetting | H7913 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַ֣ר | har | [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| קָדְשִׁ֑י | kodshi | holiness my | H6944 → | 469 times |
| הַֽעֹרְכִ֤ים | haorekhim | who arrange | H6186 → | 74 times |
| לַגַּד֙ | lagad | for <the> Fortune | H1408 → | |
| שֻׁלְחָ֔ן | shulchan | a table | H7979 → | 71 times |
| וְהַֽמְמַלְאִ֖ים | vehamalim | and who fill | H4390 → | 249 times |
| לַמְנִ֥י | lamni | for <the> Destiny | H4507 → | |
| מִמְסָֽךְ׃ | misakh | mixed wine | H4469 → |
וְאַתֶּם֙and you
veatemH859 →1094 times
עֹזְבֵ֣י[who] forsake
ʾozeveiH5800 →215 times
יְהוָ֔ה<of> Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
הַשְּׁכֵחִ֖ים<the> forgetting
hashekhechimH7913 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַ֣ר[the] mountain of
harH2022 →546 times
קָדְשִׁ֑יholiness my
kodshiH6944 →469 times
הַֽעֹרְכִ֤יםwho arrange
haorekhimH6186 →74 times
לַגַּד֙for <the> Fortune
lagadH1408 →
שֻׁלְחָ֔ןa table
shulchanH7979 →71 times
וְהַֽמְמַלְאִ֖יםand who fill
vehamalimH4390 →249 times
לַמְנִ֥יfor <the> Destiny
lamniH4507 →
מִמְסָֽךְ׃mixed wine
misakhH4469 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Chronicles 28:9As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought.…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
- James 4:8–11
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- Matthew 7:7–8
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- Isaiah 55:6–7
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their…
- Jeremiah 29:13
Through
Isaiah 2:2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to…
it leads to
- Micah 4:1–3
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to…
- Isaiah 56:7
I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called…
- Zechariah 8:3
This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be…
- Micah 4:1–3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 40 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.