Isaiah 59
59
Salvation Delayed
1#This poem brings together a lament of the postexilic community and a harsh word of judgment from the prophet. After the opening rhetorical question, each of the stanzas begins with a reference to the justice and right judgment which are lacking among the people (vv. 4, 9, 14). Toward the end of the poem, God is depicted as a Divine Warrior (vv. 16–20) who is the only one who can intervene in order to bring redemption. This same Divine Warrior imagery is repeated in a similar fashion in 63:1–6. No, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.#Is 50:2; Nm 11:23.
2Rather, it is your crimes
that separate you from your God,
It is your sins that make him hide his face
so that he does not hear you.
3For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with crime;
Your lips speak falsehood,
and your tongue utters deceit.#Is 1:15.
4No one brings suit justly,
no one pleads truthfully;
They trust an empty plea and tell lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth malice.
5#The eggs signify evil works, doing positive harm; the webs are devices that serve no useful purpose. They hatch adders’ eggs,
and weave spiders’ webs:
Whoever eats the eggs will die,
if one of them is crushed, it will hatch a viper;#Jb 20:12–16.
6Their webs cannot serve as clothing,
nor can they cover themselves with their works.
Their works are evil works,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil,
and they hasten to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness,
violence and destruction are on their highways.#Prv 1:15, 19; 2:8–9, 12–13, 15, 18–19; Rom 3:15.
8The way of peace they know not,
and there is no justice on their paths;
Their roads they have made crooked,
no one who walks in them knows peace.
Acknowledgment of Transgressions
9#The turning point in the poem comes when the people acknowledge their transgressions and describe the horror of their present state. Light is a metaphor for salvation (cf. 9:1; 42:16; 60:1–3, 19–20) and darkness represents sin and disaster. That is why judgment is far from us
and justice does not reach us.
We look for light, but there is darkness;
for brightness, and we walk in gloom!#Am 5:18–19.
10Like those who are blind we grope along the wall,
like people without eyes we feel our way.
We stumble at midday as if at twilight,
among the vigorous, we are like the dead.
11Like bears we all growl,
like doves we moan without ceasing.
We cry out for justice, but it is not there;
for salvation, but it is far from us.#Is 38:14.
12For our transgressions before you are many,
our sins bear witness against us.
Our transgressions are present to us,
and our crimes we acknowledge:
13Transgressing, and denying the Lord,
turning back from following our God,
Planning fraud and treachery,
uttering lying words conceived in the heart.
14Judgment is turned away,
and justice stands far off;
For truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.#Jb 28:28.
15Fidelity is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
Divine Intervention
The Lord saw this, and was aggrieved
that there was no justice.
16He saw that there was no one,
was appalled that there was none to intervene;
Then his own arm brought about the victory,
and his justice sustained him.
17He put on justice as his breastplate,
victory as a helmet on his head;
He clothed himself with garments of vengeance,
wrapped himself in a mantle of zeal.#Wis 5:17–20; Eph 6:14–16; 1 Thes 5:8.
18According to their deeds he repays his enemies
and requites his foes with wrath;
to the coastlands he renders recompense.
19Those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,
and those in the east, his glory,
Coming like a pent-up stream
driven on by the breath of the Lord.
20Then for Zion shall come a redeemer,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression—oracle of the Lord.#Is 35:4; Rom 11:26–27.
21#This verse makes the transition from chaps. 56–59 to chaps. 60–62. Oracles of judgment yield to oracles about God’s redemptive action. This is my covenant with them,
which I myself have made, says the Lord:
My spirit which is upon you
and my words that I have put in your mouth
Shall not depart from your mouth,
nor from the mouths of your children
Nor the mouths of your children’s children
from this time forth and forever, says the Lord.#Is 1:27.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
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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