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.”
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 59: CEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 59
59
Separation from God
1Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save,
Nor His ear so #Lit dull.impaired
That it cannot hear.
2But your wickedness has separated you from your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
3For your hands are defiled with blood
And your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing];
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4No one sues righteously [but for the sake of doing injury to others—to take some undue advantage], and no one pleads [his case] in truth; [but rather]
They trust in empty arguments and speak lies;
They conceive trouble and bring forth injustice.
5They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s webs;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from an egg which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6Their webs will not serve as clothing,
Nor will they cover themselves with what they make;
Their works are works of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing],
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil,
And they rush to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing];
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
8They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks.
They have made them into crooked paths;
Whoever walks on them does not know peace.
A Confession of Wickedness
9Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us.
We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness;
We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom.
10We grope for a wall like the blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are like dead men.
11We all groan and growl like bears,
And coo sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our transgressions are multiplied before You [O Lord],
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And we know and recognize our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]:
13Rebelling against and denying the Lord,
Turning away from [following] our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and muttering from the heart lying words.
14Justice is pushed back,
And righteous behavior stands far away;
For truth has fallen in the city square,
And #Lit straightforwardness.integrity cannot enter.
15Yes, truth is missing;
And he who turns away from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw it,
And it #Lit was evil in His eyes.displeased Him that there was no justice.
16He saw that there was no man,
And was amazed that there was no one to intercede [on behalf of truth and right];
Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His own righteousness sustained Him.
17For He [the Lord] put on righteousness like a coat of armor,
And salvation like a helmet on His head;
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And covered Himself with zeal [and great love for His people] as a cloak.
18As their deeds deserve, so He will repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies;
To the islands and coastlands He will repay.
19So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun.
For He will come in like a narrow, rushing stream
Which the #Or Spirit.breath of the Lord drives [overwhelming the enemy].
20“A Redeemer (Messiah) will come to Zion,
And to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from transgression (sin),” declares the Lord.
21“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit which is upon you [writing the law of God on the heart], and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your [true, spiritual] #Lit seed.children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Amplified® Bible
Copyright © 2015 by
The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631
All rights reserved. http://www.lockman.org