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
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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