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's webs,
6but you can't make clothes
with those webs
or hide behind them.
You're sinful and brutal.
7You hurry off to do wrong#Ro 3.15-17.
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 midday,
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.
16It disgusted him even more#Is 63.5.
to learn that no one
would do a thing about it.
So with his own powerful arm,
he won victories for truth.
17Justice was the LORD's armour;#Eph 6.14,17; 1 Th 5.8.
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 storm.
Nations in the west and the east
will then honour and praise
his wonderful name.
20The LORD has promised to rescue#Ro 11.26.
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 for ever.
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
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Isaiah 59: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Isaiah 59
59
Sin Separates Us from God
(Psalms 14:1–7; Psalms 53:1–6; Romans 3:9–20)
1Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor His ear too dull to hear.
2But your iniquities have built barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you,
so that He does not hear.
3For your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongue mutters injustice.
4No one calls for justice;
no one pleads his case honestly.
They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies;
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5They hatch the eggs of vipers
and weave a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
6Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their deeds are sinful deeds,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;
ruin and destruction #59:7 LXX misery lie in their wake.
8The way of peace they have not known,#59:8 Cited in Romans 3:15–17
and there is no justice in their tracks.
They have turned them into crooked paths;
no one who treads on them will know peace.
9Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We hope for light, but there is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall,
groping like those without eyes.
We stumble at midday as in the twilight;
among the vigorous we are like the dead.
11We all growl like bears
and moan like doves.
We hope for justice, but find none,
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions are indeed with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13rebelling and denying the Lord,
turning away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
14So justice is turned away,
and righteousness stands at a distance.
For truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty cannot enter.
15Truth is missing,
and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased #59:15 Hebrew and it was evil in His eyes
that there was no justice.
16He saw that there was no man;
He was amazed that there was no one to intercede.
So His own arm brought salvation,
and His own righteousness sustained Him.
17He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on garments of vengeance
and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.
The Covenant of the Redeemer
18So He will repay according to their deeds:
fury to His enemies,
retribution to His foes,
and recompense to the islands.#59:18 Or coastlands
19So shall they fear the name of the Lord
where the sun sets,
and His glory where it rises.
For He will come like a raging flood,
driven by the breath of the Lord.#59:19 Or When the enemy comes like a raging flood, the Spirit of the Lord will drive him back
20“The Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,#59:20 LXX to remove godlessness from Jacob; cited in Romans 11:26”
declares the Lord.
21“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,”#59:21 Cited in Romans 11:27 says the Lord. “My Spirit will not depart from you,#59:21 Literally My Spirit, who is upon you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the Lord.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.