Isaiah 59
59
Alienation from God
1Look! The LORD does not lack the power to save,
nor are his ears too dull to hear,
2but your misdeeds have separated you from your God.
Your sins have hidden his face from you
so that you aren’t heard.
3Your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with guilt.
Your lips speak lies;
your tongues mutter malice.
4No one sues honestly;
no one pleads truthfully.
By trusting in emptiness and speaking deceit,
they conceive harm and give birth to malice.
5They hatch adders’ eggs,
and weave spiderwebs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die.
Moreover, the crushed egg hatches a viper.
6Their webs can’t serve as clothing;
they can’t cover themselves with their deeds.
Their deeds are deeds of malice,
and the work of violence is in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil;
they rush to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of malice;
desolation and destruction litter their highways.
8They don’t know the way of peace;
there’s no justice in their paths.
They make their roads crooked;
no one who walks in them knows peace.
Injustice obscures vision
9Because of all this, justice is far from us,
and righteousness beyond our reach.
We expect light, and there is darkness;
we await a gleam of light, but walk about in gloom.
10We grope along the wall like the blind;
like those without eyes we grope.
We stumble at noonday as if it were twilight,
and among the strong as if we were dying.
11All of us growl like bears,
and like doves we moan.
We expect justice, but there is none;
we await salvation, but it is far from us.
12Our rebellions are numerous in your presence;
our sins testify against us.
Our rebellions are with us;
we’re aware of our guilt:
13defying and denying the LORD,
turning away from our God,
planning oppression and revolt,
muttering lying words conceived in our minds.
14Justice is pushed aside;
righteousness stands far off,
because truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty can’t enter.
15Truth is missing;
anyone turning from evil is plundered.
God will intervene
The LORD looked and was upset at the absence of justice.
16Seeing that there was no one,
and astonished that no one would intervene,
God’s arm brought victory,
upheld by righteousness,
17putting on righteousness as armor
and a helmet of salvation on his head,
putting on garments of vengeance,
and wrapping himself in a cloak of zeal.
18God will repay according to their actions:
wrath to his foes, retribution to enemies,
retribution to the coastlands,
19so those in the west will fear the LORD’s name,
and those in the east will fear God’s glory.
It will come like a rushing river
that the LORD’s wind drives on.
20A redeemer will come to Zion
and to those in Jacob who stop rebelling,
says the LORD.
21As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD.
My spirit, which is upon you,
and my words, which I have placed in your mouth
won’t depart from your mouth,
nor from the mouths of your descendants,
nor from the mouths of your descendants’ children,
says the LORD,
forever and always.
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Isaiah 59: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
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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