Isaiah 59
59
Separated from God
1Behold, the Lord’s hand is not #Num. 11:23; Is. 50:2; Jer. 32:17shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will #Is. 1:15not hear.
3For #Is. 1:15, 21; Jer. 2:30, 34; Ezek. 7:23; Hos. 4:2your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in #Is. 30:12; Jer. 7:4empty words and speak lies;
#Job 15:35; Ps. 7:14; Is. 33:11They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
5They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6#Job 8:14Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7#Prov. 1:16; Rom. 3:15Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed #Prov. 6:17innocent blood;
#Is. 55:7Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and #Rom. 3:16, 17destruction are in their paths.
8The way of #Is. 57:20, 21peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
#Ps. 125:5; Prov. 2:15They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
Sin Confessed
9Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
#Jer. 8:15We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
10#Deut. 28:29; Job 5:14; Amos 8:9We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.
11We all growl like bears,
And #Is. 38:14; Ezek. 7:16moan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our #Is. 24:5; 58:1transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13In transgressing and lying against the Lord,
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering #Matt. 12:34from the heart words of falsehood.
14Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
15So truth fails,
And he who departs from evil makes himself a #Is. 5:23; 10:2; 29:21; 32:7prey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
That there was no justice.
16#Is. 41:28; 63:5; 64:7; Ezek. 22:30He saw that there was no man,
And #Mark 6:6wondered that there was no intercessor;
#Ps. 98:1; Is. 63:5Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
17#Eph. 6:14, 17; 1 Thess. 5:8For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18#Is. 63:6; Rom. 2:6According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,
Fury to His adversaries,
Recompense to His enemies;
The coastlands He will fully repay.
19#Ps. 113:3; Mal. 1:11So shall they fear
The name of the Lord from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in #Rev. 12:15like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
20“The#Rom. 11:26 Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”
Says the Lord.
21“As#(Heb. 8:10; 10:16) for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
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Isaiah 59: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 59
59
The Prophet Condemns the People's Sins
1Don't think that the LORD is too weak to save you or too deaf to hear your call for help! 2It is because of your sins that he doesn't hear you. It is your sins that separate you from God when you try to worship him. 3You are guilty of lying, violence, and murder.
4You go to court, but you haven't got justice on your side. You depend on lies to win your case. You carry out your plans to hurt others. 5-6The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake! But your plots will do you no good — they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs! 7#Rom 3.15–17You are always planning something evil, and you can hardly wait to do it. You never hesitate to murder innocent people. You leave ruin and destruction wherever you go, 8and no one is safe when you are about. Everything you do is unjust. You follow a crooked path, and no one who walks that path will ever be safe.
The People Confess their Sin
9The people say, “Now we know why God does not save us from those who oppress us. We hope for light to walk by, but there is only darkness, 10and we grope about like blind people. We stumble at noon, as if it were night, as if we were in the dark world of the dead. 11We are frightened and distressed. We long for God to save us from oppression and wrong, but nothing happens.
12“LORD, our crimes against you are many. Our sins accuse us. We are well aware of them all. 13We have rebelled against you, rejected you, and refused to follow you. We have oppressed others and turned away from you. Our thoughts are false; our words are lies. 14Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near. Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there. 15There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime.”
The LORD Prepares to Rescue his People
The LORD has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice. 16#Is 63.5He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So he will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory. 17#Eph 6.14, 17; 1 Thes 5.8He will wear justice like a coat of armour and saving power like a helmet. He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer. 18He will punish his enemies according to what they have done, even those who live in distant lands. 19From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind.
20 #
Rom 11.26
The LORD says to his people, “I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins. 21And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours for ever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.