Isaiah 59
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord Will Turn His People from Wrongdoing
59 The Lord is not too weak to save
or his ear too deaf to hear.
2 But your wrongs have separated you from your God,
and your sins have made him hide his face
so that he doesn’t hear you.
3 Your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers are stained with sin.
You speak lies,
and you mutter wicked things.
4 No one calls for justice,
and no one pleads his case truthfully.
People trust pointless arguments and speak lies.
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
5 They hatch viper eggs
and weave spiderwebs.
Those who eat their eggs will die.
When an egg is crushed, a poisonous snake is hatched.
6 Their webs can’t be used for clothes,
nor can they cover themselves with their works.
Their works are evil.
Their hands have committed acts of violence.
7 Their feet run to do evil.
They hurry to shed innocent blood.
Their plans are evil.
Ruin and destruction are on their highways.
8 They don’t know the way of peace.
There’s no justice on their highways.
They’ve made their paths crooked.
Whoever walks on them will never know peace.
9 That is why justice is far from us,
and righteousness doesn’t reach us.
We hope for light, but we walk in darkness.
We hope for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope like blind men along a wall.
We grope like people without eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
We are like dead people among healthy people.
11 We all growl like bears.
We coo like doves.
We hope for justice, but there is none.
We hope for salvation, but it’s far from us.
12 You are aware of our many rebellious acts.
Our sins testify against us.
Our rebellious acts are with us.
We know our wrongdoings.
13 We have rebelled and denied the Lord.
We have turned away from our God.
We have spoken about oppression and revolt.
We have conceived and uttered lies in our hearts.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away.
Truth has fallen in the street,
and honesty can’t come in.
15 Truth is missing.
Those who turn away from evil make themselves victims.
The Lord sees it, and he’s angry
because there’s no justice.
16 He sees that there’s no one to help.
He’s astounded that there’s no one to intercede.
So with his own power he wins a victory.
His righteousness supports him.
17 He puts on righteousness like a coat of armor
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He wears clothes of vengeance.
He wraps himself with fury as a coat.
18 He will pay them back according to their deeds.
He will pay back his opponents with wrath and punish his enemies.
He will pay back the people who live on the coastlands.
19 The people of the west will fear the name of the Lord.
Those in the east will fear his glory.
He will come like a rushing stream.
The wind of the Lord pushes him.
20 “Then a Savior will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from rebellion,” declares the Lord.
21 “This is my promise [a] to them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I put in your mouth will not leave you. They will be with your children and your grandchildren permanently,” says the Lord.
Footnotes
- 59:21 Or “covenant.”
Isaiah 59
King James Version
59 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
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