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Isaiah 65 · a question people ask

Who are "Fortune" and "Destiny" (65:11)?

In the text

The verse names them and says what was done for them: "who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny" (65:11). It sets that beside "you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain" (65:11). In Hebrew Fortune is gad and Destiny is meni, and this is the only verse in the Bible that names them. The chapter says no more about them, and these notes add nothing from outside the Bible. What the chapter does give is the next verse, where the LORD says, "I will destine you to the sword" (65:12) (tap destine): the WEB's Destiny and destine stand side by side, as meni and umaniti do in Hebrew.

The verses

““But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny; I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.””
Isaiah 65:11-12 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 65

Isaiah 65: New heavens and a new earth

Paul gives 65:1-2 in Romans 10:20-21, and Peter, without naming Isaiah, looks for "new heavens and a new earth" "according to his promise" (2 Peter 3:13). The LORD's "See me, see me" (65:1) is the word of "Here I am" in 58:9. And "when I called, you didn’t answer" (65:12) turns around: "before they call, I will answer" (65:24).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions