Isaiah 59
59
Evil People Should Change Their Lives
1Look, the Lord’s power is enough to save you. He can hear you when you ask him for help. 2It is your sins that separate you from your God. He turns away from you when he sees them. 3That’s because your hands are covered with blood from the people you murdered. You tell lies and say evil things. 4You can’t be trusted, even in court. You lie about each other and depend on false arguments to win your cases. You create pain and produce wickedness. 5You hatch evil, like eggs from a poisonous snake. Anyone who eats the eggs will die. And if you break one of them open, a poisonous snake will come out.
Your lies are like spider webs. 6They cannot be used for clothes, and you cannot cover yourself with them.
Your hands are always busy sinning and hurting others. 7Your feet run toward evil. You are always ready to kill innocent people. You think of nothing but evil. Everywhere you go you cause trouble and ruin. 8You don’t know how to live in peace. You don’t do what is right and fair. You are crooked, and anyone who lives like that will never know true peace.
Israel’s Sin Brings Trouble
9All fairness and goodness is gone.
There is only darkness around us,
so we must wait for the light.
We hope for a bright light,
but all we have is darkness.
10We are like people without eyes.
We walk into walls like blind people.
We stumble and fall as if it was night.
Even in the daylight, we cannot see.
At noontime, we fall like dead men.
11We are always complaining;
we growl like bears and moan like doves.
We are waiting for justice,
but there is none.
We are waiting to be saved,
but salvation is still far away.
12That’s because we committed crimes against our God.
Our own sins speak out against us.
We know we are guilty.
We know we have sinned.
13We rebelled against the Lord
and lied to him.
We turned away from our God
and left him.
We planned to hurt others
and to rebel against God.
From hearts filled with lies,
we talked about it and made our plans.
14We pushed Justice away.
Fairness stands off in the distance.
Truth has fallen in the streets.
Goodness is not allowed in the city.
15Loyalty is gone,
and people who try to do good are robbed.
The Lord looked and saw there was no justice.
He did not like what he saw.
16He did not see anyone speak up for the people.
He was shocked to see that no one stood up for them.
So with his own power he saved them.
His desire to do what is right gave him strength.
17He put on the armor of goodness,
the helmet of salvation,
the uniform of punishment,
and the coat of strong love.#59:17 strong love The Hebrew word means strong feelings like love, hate, anger, zeal, or jealousy.
18He will give his enemies the punishment they deserve.
They will feel his anger.
He will punish all his enemies.
People along the coast will get the punishment they deserve.
19People from the west to the east will fear the Lord
and respect his Glory.
He will come quickly, like a fast-flowing river
driven by a wind#59:19 wind Or “spirit.” from the Lord.
20Then a redeemer#59:20 redeemer Someone who sets a person free by paying their debt. will come to Zion
to save the people of Jacob who have turned away from sin.
21The Lord says, “As for me, this is the agreement that I will make with these people. I promise my Spirit that I put on you and my words that I put in your mouth will never leave you. They will be with you and your children and your children’s children, for now and forever.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 59
59
Warnings against Sin
1Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you,
nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
2It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.
Because of your sins, he has turned away
and will not listen anymore.
3Your hands are the hands of murderers,
and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
and your mouth spews corruption.
4No one cares about being fair and honest.
The people’s lawsuits are based on lies.
They conceive evil deeds
and then give birth to sin.
5They hatch deadly snakes
and weave spiders’ webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.
6Their webs can’t be made into clothing,
and nothing they do is productive.
All their activity is filled with sin,
and violence is their trademark.
7Their feet run to do evil,
and they rush to commit murder.
They think only about sinning.
Misery and destruction always follow them.
8They don’t know where to find peace
or what it means to be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads,
and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.
9So there is no justice among us,
and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10We grope like the blind along a wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
we are like the dead.
11We growl like hungry bears;
we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12For our sins are piled up before God
and testify against us.
Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14Our courts oppose the righteous,
and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
and honesty has been outlawed.
15Yes, truth is gone,
and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.
The Lord looked and was displeased
to find there was no justice.
16He was amazed to see that no one intervened
to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
and his justice sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as his body armor
and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance
and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
His fury will fall on his foes.
He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord;
in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
driven by the breath of the Lord.#59:19 Or When the enemy comes like a raging flood tide, / the Spirit of the Lord will drive him back.
20“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”#59:20 Hebrew The Redeemer will come to Zion / to buy back those in Jacob / who have turned from their sins. Greek version reads The one who rescues will come on behalf of Zion, / and he will turn Jacob away from ungodliness. Compare Rom 11:26.
says the Lord.
21“And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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