Isaiah 59
59
The Evil That People Do
1Surely the Lord’s power is enough to save you.
He can hear you when you ask him for help.
2It is your evil that has separated
you from your God.
Your sins cause him to turn away from you,
so he does not hear you.
3With your hands you have killed others,
and with your fingers you have done wrong.
With your lips you have lied,
and with your tongue you say evil things.
4People take each other to court unfairly,
and no one tells the truth in arguing his case.
They accuse each other falsely and tell lies.
They cause trouble and create more evil.
5They hatch evil like eggs from poisonous snakes.
If you eat one of those eggs, you will die,
and if you break one open, a poisonous snake comes out.
People tell lies as they would spin a spider’s web.
6The webs they make cannot be used for clothes;
you can’t cover yourself with those webs.
The things they do are evil,
and they use their hands to hurt others.
7They eagerly run to do evil,
and they are always ready to kill innocent people.
They think evil thoughts.
Everywhere they go they cause ruin and destruction.
8They don’t know how to live in peace,
and there is no fairness in their lives.
They are dishonest.
Anyone who lives as they live will never have peace.
Israel’s Sin Brings Trouble
9Fairness has gone far away;
goodness is nowhere to be found.
We wait for the light, but there is only darkness now.
We hope for a bright light, but all we have is darkness.
10We are like the blind feeling our way along a wall.
We feel our way as if we had no eyes.
In the brightness of day we trip as if it were night.
We are like dead men among the strong.
11All of us growl like the bears.
We call out sadly like the doves.
We look for justice, but there isn’t any.
We want to be saved, but salvation is far away.
12We have done many wrong things against our God;
our sins show we are wrong.
We know we have turned against God;
we know the evil things we have done:
13sinning and rejecting the Lord,
turning away from our God,
planning to hurt others and to disobey God,
planning and speaking lies.
14So we have driven away justice,
and we have kept away from what is right.
Truth is not spoken in the streets;
what is honest is not allowed to enter the city.
15Truth cannot be found anywhere,
and people who refuse to do evil are attacked.
The Lord looked and could not find any justice,
and he was displeased.
16He could not find anyone to help the people,
and he was surprised that there was no one to help.
So he used his own power to save the people;
his own goodness gave him strength.
17He covered himself with goodness like armor.
He put the helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on his clothes for punishing
and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.
18The Lord will pay back his enemies for what they have done.
He will show his anger to those who were against him;
he will punish the people in faraway places as they deserve.
19Then people from the west will fear the Lord,
and people from the east will fear his glory.
The Lord will come quickly like a fast-flowing river,
driven by the breath of the Lord.
20“Then a Savior will come to Jerusalem
and to the people of Jacob who have turned from sin,”
says the Lord.
21The Lord says, “This is my agreement with these people: My Spirit and my words that I give you will never leave you or your children or your grandchildren, now and forever.”
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Isaiah 59: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 59
59
Rampant Transgression
1Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short to save,#Literally “from saving”
and his ear is not too dull to hear.#Literally “from hearing”
2Rather, your iniquities have been barriers#Literally “dividers” between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing.
3For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue speaks wickedness.
4There is nobody who pleads with#Literally “calling in” justice,
and there is nobody who judges with honesty.
They rely on nothing
and speak vanity.
They conceive trouble
and beget iniquity;
5they hatch viper eggs,
and they weave a spider web.
One who eats their eggs dies,
and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent.
6Their webs cannot become clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds#Hebrew “deed” of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil,
and they hasten to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
devastation and destruction are in their highways.
8They do not know the way of peace,
and there is no justice in their firm paths.
They have made their paths crooked for themselves;
everyone who walks#Literally “walking” in it knows no peace.
9Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We wait for light, but#Or “and” look! there is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10We grope like the blind along a wall,
and we grope as without#Literally “like there are no” eyes.
We stumble at noon as in the twilight;
among the strong we are like the dead.
11We all groan like bears,
and we coo mutteringly like doves.
We wait for justice, but#Or “and” there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our transgressions are numerous before you,
and our sins testify#Or “answers” against us.
Indeed, our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13transgressing and denying Yahweh,
and turning away from following#Literally “back from behind” our God;
speaking oppression and falsehood,
conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.
14And justice is pushed back,
and righteousness stands afar;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and straightforwardness is unable to enter,
15and truth is missing,
and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.
And Yahweh saw,
and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice
16And he saw that there was no man,
and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes,
so#Or “and” his arm came to assist him,
and his righteousness was what#Literally “it” sustained him.
17And he put on righteousness like a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head,
and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a robe.
18According to deeds, so he will repay;
wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his enemies.#Literally “hostile”
He will repay requital to the coastlands.
19So#Or “And” they shall fear the name of Yahweh from the west,
and his glory from the sunrise,
for he will come like a narrow stream;
the wind of Yahweh drives it on.
20“And a redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,”
declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh.
21“And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh:
my spirit that is upon you,
and my words that I have placed in your mouth
shall not depart from your mouth,
or#Or “and” from the mouths#Hebrew “mouth” of your children,#Literally “offspring”
or#Or “and” from the mouths#Hebrew “mouth” of your children’s children,”#Literally “the offspring of your offspring”
says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”
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