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.
Isaiah 59
59
Sin and Redemption
1Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save,#Nm 11:23; Is 50:2; Jr 32:17
and his ear is not too deaf to hear.
2But your iniquities#Is 13:11 are separating you
from your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you#Dt 31:17–18; 32:20; Is 50:6; Ezk 39:29; Mc 3:4
so that he does not listen.#Dt 3:26; 23:5; Jb 35:13; Is 1:15
3For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers, with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongues mutter injustice.
4No one makes claims justly;
no one pleads honestly.
They trust in empty and worthless words;
they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.#Jb 15:35; Ps 7:14; Is 33:11
5They hatch viper’s eggs
and weave spider’s webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
6Their webs cannot become clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their works are sinful works,
and violent acts are in their hands.
7Their feet run after evil,#Rm 3:15–17
and they rush to shed innocent blood.#Pr 1:16; 6:17
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;#Mk 7:21–22
ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.
8They have not known the path of peace,#Lk 1:79
and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made their roads crooked;
no one who walks on them will know peace.#Is 57:20–21
9Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We hope for light, but there is darkness;
for brightness, but we live in the night.
10We grope along a wall like the blind;
we grope like those without eyes.#Dt 28:29; Jb 5:14
We stumble at noon as though it were twilight;
we are like the dead among those who are healthy.
11We all growl like bears
and moan like doves.#Is 38:14; Ezk 7:16
We hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our transgressions have multiplied before you,#Ezr 9:6
and our sins testify against us.#Is 3:9; Jr 14:7; Hs 5:5
For our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:#Is 13:11
13transgression and deception against the Lord,
turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
14Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far off.
For truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty cannot enter.
15Truth is missing,
and whoever turns from evil is plundered.
The Lord saw that there was no justice,
and he was offended.
16He saw that there was no man —
he was amazed that there was no one interceding;#Is 41:28; 63:5; Ezk 22:30
so his own arm brought salvation,
and his own righteousness supported him.
17He put on righteousness as body armor,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;#Eph 6:14,17; 1Th 5:8
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.#Is 9:7; 37:32; Zch 1:14
18So he will repay according to their deeds:#Jr 25:14; Rv 22:12
fury to his enemies,
retribution to his foes,
and he will repay the coasts and islands.
19They will fear the name of the Lord in the west
and his glory in the east;#59:19 Lit sunrise#Ps 113:3
for he will come like a rushing stream#Is 30:28; 66:12
driven by the wind of the Lord.
20“The Redeemer#Is 41:14; 43:14 will come to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”#Ezk 18:30–31; Rm 11:26–27
This is the Lord’s declaration.
21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,”#Jr 31:31–34 says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth,#Is 51:16 will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.
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