Isaiah 59

Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished

1 # Num 11.23; Isa 50.2; 58.9 See, the Lord’s arm is not too short to save,

nor his ear too dull to hear.

2 # Isa 1.15; 58.4 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.

3 # v 13 ; Isa 1.15; 28.15; Jer 2.30For your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

your tongue mutters wickedness.

4 # vv 14, 15 ; Job 15.35; Ps 7.14; Isa 30.12No one brings suit justly;

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas; they speak lies,

conceiving mischief and bearing iniquity.

5 # Job 8.14; Isa 14.29 They hatch adders’ eggs

and weave the spider’s web;

whoever eats their eggs dies,

and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.

6 # Isa 28.20; 57.12; 58.4 Their webs cannot serve as clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.

7 # Isa 65.2; Rom 3.15–17 Their feet run to evil,

and they rush to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

desolation and destruction are in their highways.

8 # vv 9, 11, 14; Ps 125.5The way of peace they do not know,

and there is no justice in their ways.

Their roads they have made crooked;

no one who walks in them knows peace.

9 # v 14 ; Isa 5.30; 8.21, 22Therefore justice is far from us,

and deliverance does not reach us;

we wait for light, but there is only darkness;

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10 # Deut 28.29; Job 5.14; Isa 8.4, 15; Am 8.9 We grope like the blind along a wall,

groping like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

among the vigorous#59.10 Meaning of Heb uncertain as though we were dead.

11 # vv 9, 14 ; Isa 38.14; Ezek 7.16We all growl like bears;

like doves we moan mournfully.

We wait for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 # Isa 58.1; Jer 14.7 For our transgressions before you are many,

and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions indeed are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

13 # vv 3, 4 ; Josh 24.27; Isa 30.12; Titus 1.16transgressing and denying the Lord

and turning away from following our God,

talking oppression and revolt,

conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.

14 # Isa 1.21; 48.1 Justice is turned back,

and deliverance stands at a distance,

for truth stumbles in the public square,

and uprightness cannot enter.

15 # Isa 1.21–23; 5.23 Truth is lacking,

and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

16 # Ps 98.1; Isa 63.5; Ezek 22.30 He saw that there was no one

and was appalled that there was no one to intervene,

so his own arm brought him victory,

and his righteousness upheld him.

17 # Isa 63.2, 3; Eph 6.14; 1 Thess 5.8 He put on righteousness like a breastplate

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing

and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.

18 # Isa 65.6, 7; 66.6 According to their deeds, so will he repay

wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;

to the coastlands he will render requital.

19 # Ps 113.3; Isa 66.12 So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,

and those in the east, his glory,

for he will come like a pent-up stream

that the wind of the Lord drives on.

20 # Ezek 18.30, 31; Acts 2.38, 39; Rom 11.26, 27 And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord.

21 # Isa 44.3, 26; 54.10; Jer 31.31–34; 32.40 And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouths of your children or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord, from now on and forever.

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Isaiah 59: NRSVUE

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Isaiah 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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