Isaiah 59
59
1Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save;
nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.
2But your iniquities have separated you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies.
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4No one sues in righteousness,
and no one pleads in truth.
They trust in vanity
and speak lies.
They conceive mischief
and give birth to iniquity.
5They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web.
He who eats of their eggs dies;
and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6Their webs won’t become garments.
They won’t cover themselves with their works.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil,
and they hurry to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.
Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
8They don’t know the way of peace;
and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made crooked paths for themselves;
whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.
9Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness doesn’t overtake us.
We look for light, but see darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10We grope for the wall like the blind.
Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
11We all roar like bears
and moan sadly like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13transgressing and denying Yahweh,
and turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14Justice is turned away backward,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has fallen in the street,
and uprightness can’t enter.
15Yes, truth is lacking;
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
Yahweh saw it,
and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor.
Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him;
and his righteousness sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
18According to their deeds,
he will repay as appropriate:
wrath to his adversaries,
recompense to his enemies.
He will repay the islands their due.
19So they will fear Yahweh’s name from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come as a rushing stream,
which Yahweh’s breath drives.
20“A Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says Yahweh.
21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”
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Isaiah 59: WEBUS
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Isaiah 59
59
Social Injustice Is Condemned
1The Lord hasn't lost
his powerful strength;
he can still hear
and answer prayers.
2Your sins are the roadblock
between you and your God.
That's why he doesn't answer
your prayers
or let you see his face.
3Your talk is filled with lies
and plans for violence;
every finger on your hands
is covered with blood.
4You falsely accuse others
and tell lies in court;
sin and trouble are the names
of your children.
5You eat the deadly eggs
of poisonous snakes,
and more snakes crawl out
from the eggs left to hatch.
You weave spider webs,
6but you can't make clothes
with those webs
or hide behind them.
You're sinful and brutal.
7 #
Ro 3.15-17. You hurry off to do wrong
or murder innocent victims.
All you think about is sin;
you leave ruin and destruction
wherever you go.
8You don't know how
to live in peace
or to be fair with others.
The roads you make are crooked;
your followers cannot find peace.
The People Confess Their Sins
9No one has come to defend us
or to bring about justice.
We hoped for a day of sunshine,
but all we found
was a dark, gloomy night.
10We feel our way along,
as if we were blind;
we stumble at noon,
as if it were night.
We can see no better
than someone dead.#59.10 We can … dead: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
11We growl like bears
and mourn like doves.
We hope for justice and victory,
but they escape us.
12How often have we sinned
and turned against you,
the Lord God?
Our sins condemn us!
We have done wrong.
13We have rebelled and refused
to follow you.
Our hearts were deceitful,
and so we lied;
we planned to abuse others
and turn our backs on you.
14Injustice is everywhere;
justice seems far away.
Truth is chased out of court;
honesty is shoved aside.
15Everyone tells lies;
those who turn from crime
end up ruined.
The Lord Will Rescue His People
When the Lord noticed
that justice had disappeared,
he became very displeased.
16 #
Is 63.5. It disgusted him even more
to learn that no one
would do a thing about it.
So with his own powerful arm,
he won victories for truth.
17 #
Ws 5.17-23; Eph 6.14,17; 1 Th 5.8. Justice was the Lord's armor;
saving power was his helmet;
anger and revenge
were his clothes.
18Now the Lord will get furious
and do to his enemies,
both near and far,
what they did to his people.
19He will attack like a flood
in a mighty windstorm.
Nations in the west and the east
will then honor and praise
his wonderful name.
20 #
Ro 11.26. The Lord has promised to rescue
the city of Zion
and Jacob's descendants
who turn from sin.
21The Lord says: “My people,
I promise to give you my Spirit
and my message.
These will be my gifts to you
and your families forever.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.