Isaiah 65, 20: Centenarians or Millenarians? 91 The incense you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers and the people of the land, did not Yahweh remember them (rkz) and did it not come into his mind (wblAl[ hl[t)? (22) so that Yahweh could not stand it, because of the evil of your works and because of the abominations you committed; therefore your land has become a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. It is apparent in this Jeremiah passage that the land was devastated because God remembered the sins of the people. A similar assertion occurs in Deut 29, 23 where the curse which falls upon those who break the Mosaic covenant (cf Deut 29, 20-21&27) affects the land so that it becomes like Sodom and Gemorrah. Applied to Isa 65,17 this intimates that in the time of the new heavens and new earth God will not remember past sins so the land will not be devastated. Isa 65,16 further amplifies the relationship between the people (God’s servants) and the land: he will call his servants by another name (16) so that he who blesses himself by the earth blesses himself by the God of ’amen and he who swears ([BvNh) by the earth swears ([bVy) by the God of ’amen because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hidden from my eyes. The description of God as the God of ’amen (ˆma) (16) recalls Biblical passages where ˆma appears. It is not used elsewhere as a descriptor of God, rather as a response to statements made — an affirmation of their acceptance. Such statements fall into two categories: 1) a promise of obedience with curses invoked on those who break their promise (Deut 27, 15-16 cf Jer 11,4-5) 2) affirmations of God’s singular and everlasting nature (cf Ps 41,14[13] repeated in 1 Chron 16,36; Ps 72,9; 89,33[52]; 106,48. The word ’amen (ˆma) recalls God’s eternal nature and the rewards for those who live in accordance with his will. This links with the allusions to Deuteronomic passages found in Isa 65,18-25. It should be noted that in Isa 65,16 it is God’s servants who bless themselves in the God of ’amen. The notion of swearing by the land was also found to derive from Deuteronomy where ≈ra and [bv occur together frequently: 1) the land was promised (sworn) to Abraham and his seed (1,8; 6,10.23; 7,13; 8,1; 10,11; 28,11; 30,20; 34,40) (16) The LXX substituted tma for ‘amen (ˆma). However the ˆma of the MT is supported by the DSS.