Isaiah 65, 20: Centenarians or Millenarians? 93 individuals to prosper in the land in all ways, as Deut 29,9 promised, without the rewards of individual efforts being negated by those disobedient to God. Human beings though will continue to be what they have always been — individuals who must make a choice as to which path they will follow in life — either they will worship God and perform his will or they will reject him and his requirements. It should not surprise us then that new sinners will appear in the time of the new heavens and new earth. In such an era, unlike the previous one, they will not adversely affect the righteous or the land. They will be punished for their own misdeeds. * ** To turn now to the difficulties involved in effecting a comprehensible translation of Isa 65,20. A translation of the Massoretic text reads, From then on there will never again be an infant of days or an old person who does not fill his days for the youth will die a hundred years old and the sinner, a hundred years old is cursed. It is clear in Isa 65, 20 that life, although long, is not eternal. The phrase “fill (one’s) days” appears in Exod 23,26 where God vows that if people serve him by keeping his commandments there will be no miscarriages or barreness in the land: “the number of your days I will fulfil” (17). Isa 65,20 then announces God’s intention to implement the promise of Exod 23,26 that had not been realised prior to the inception of the new heavens and new earth because not everyone had kept God’s commandments. Although there is no linguistic link, Isa 65,20 also fulfils a particular aspect of the promises of Deuteronomy, a work frequently referred to by earlier verses in Isaiah 65. To whit: obedience to God’s covenant will result in long life on the land which God has given his people (cf Deut 4,40; 5,16 .33[30]; 6,2; 22,7; 25,15; 32,47). It should be noted though that in Exod 23,26, Deuteronomy and Isa 65,20, death, at the appropriate time, is still the lot of mankind. What is not so clear is the upper limit of the life span. A contentious issue is that there is no apparent difference in longevity between the youth and the sinner, and a resolution of this problem clarifies the length of life in the case of the righteous. Whybray (18) calls attention to both the youth and sinner having the same life-span, and, following Westermann (19), suggests understanding afwjh, the word usually translated as “the sinner” as “one who fails”. The phrase now reads, “and the one who fails (to be) a hundred years old is cursed” (20). (17) As SEHMSDORF, “Studien zur Redaktionsgeschichte”, 527 points out, the actual expression “fill his days” occurs in Exod 23,26; Jer 25, 34; Lam 4,18 and 2 Sam 7,12 = 1 Chron 17,11. However, it is only the reference in Exodus which is contextually similar to Isa 65,20. (18) WHYBRAY, Isaiah 40–66, 277. Whybray is following Buhl (cited by G.R. DRIVER, “Linguistic and Textual Problems: Isaiah XL-LXVI”, JTS 36 (1935) 406, n. 1) when he asserts that afwjh should be understood as “one who fails”. (19) C. WESTERMANN, Isaiah 40–66. A Commentary (London 1969) 407, 409. (20) A number of scholars translate in a similar way e.g. J.D.W. WATTS, Isaiah 34–66 (WBC; Waco, TX 1987) 349; SEHMSDORF, “Studien”, 527. Some scholars, e.g. W. BRUEGGEMANN, Isaiah 40–66 (Louisville, KY 1998) 249; A. MOTYER, The Prophecy of