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The Evil That People Do

59 Surely the Lord’s ·power [L hand] is ·enough [L not too short] to save you.
    ·He can hear you when you ask him for help [L …nor his ear too heavy to hear].
It is your ·evil [iniquity] that has separated
    you from your God.
Your sins cause him to ·turn away [L hide his face] from you,
    so he does not hear you.
·With your hands you have killed others [L For your hands are defiled with blood],
    and ·with your fingers you have done wrong [L your fingers with sin/iniquity].
With your lips you have lied,
    and with your tongue you ·say [utter; mutter] evil things.
·People take each other to court unfairly [L No one sues with cause; or No one calls for justice],
    and no one tells the truth in ·arguing [setting forth; pleading] his case.
They ·accuse each other falsely [or rely on empty arguments] and tell lies.
    They ·cause [L conceive] trouble and ·create more [L give birth to] evil.
They hatch ·evil like eggs [L eggs] from ·poisonous snakes [vipers].
    If you eat one of those eggs, you will die,
    and if you break one open, a poisonous snake comes out.
People ·tell lies as they would spin [L spin] a spider’s web.
    The webs they make cannot be used for clothes;
    you can’t cover yourself with ·those webs [L what they make].
The things they do are evil,
    and ·they use their hands to hurt others [L a deed of violence is in their hands].
·They eagerly [L Their feet] run to do evil [Prov. 1:16; Rom. 3:15–17],
    and they are always ready to ·kill innocent people [L shed innocent blood].
They ·think evil thoughts [or devise evil schemes].
    ·They cause ruin and destruction everywhere they go [Ruin and destruction are in their paths/roads].
They don’t know ·how to live in [L the path/way of] peace,
    and there is no ·fairness [justice] in their ·lives [paths].
They ·are dishonest [act deceitfully; L have made their paths/ways crooked].
    Anyone who ·lives as they live [walks on them] will never ·have [know] peace.

Israel’s Sin Brings Trouble

·Fairness [Justice] has gone far away;
    ·goodness [righteousness] ·is nowhere to be found [L does not reach/overtake us].
We ·wait [hope] for the light, but ·there is only darkness now [L look/T behold, darkness].
    We ·hope [wait] for a bright light, but ·all we have is darkness [L we walk in gloom/shadows/darkness].
10 We are like the blind ·feeling our way [groping] along a wall.
    We ·feel our way [grope] as if we had no eyes.
·In the brightness of day [At midday/noon] we ·trip [stumble] as if it were ·night [evening; twilight].
    We are like dead men ·among the strong [or in desolate places].
11 All of us growl like the bears.
    We ·call out sadly [moan/coo mournfully] like the doves.
We ·look [hope; wait] for justice, but there isn’t any.
    We ·want to be saved [hope/wait for salvation], but salvation is far away.

12 ·We have done many wrong things [L For our sins/transgressions are many] ·against our God [L before you];
    our sins ·show we are wrong [L testify against us].
·We know we have turned against God [L Our transgressions are with us];
    we know the ·evil things [iniquities] we have done:
13 ·sinning [transgressing; rebelling] and ·rejecting [L lying against] the Lord,
    turning ·away from [our backs to] our God,
·planning to hurt others and to disobey God [L speaking oppression and revolt],
    ·planning [conceiving] and speaking lies.
14 So we have driven away justice,
    and ·we have kept away from what is right [L righteousness stands far off].
Truth ·is not spoken [stumbles] in the ·streets [public squares];
    what is honest ·is not allowed to enter the city [L cannot enter].
15 Truth ·cannot be found anywhere [is lost/gone; or fails],
    and people who refuse to do evil ·are attacked [become prey].

The Lord looked and could not find any justice,
    and he was displeased.
16 He ·could not find anyone to help the people [L saw there was no one],
    and he was ·surprised [shocked; appalled] that there was no one to ·help [intervene].
So ·he used his own power to save the people [L his own arm brought him salvation];
    his own ·goodness [righteousness] gave him strength.
17 He ·covered himself with goodness [put on righteousness] like ·armor [a breastplate].
    He put the helmet of salvation on his head [1 Thess. 5:8; Eph. 6:13–17].
He put on ·his clothes for punishing [garments of vengeance]
    and wrapped himself in ·the coat of his strong love [zeal/jealousy as a cloak].
18 The Lord will ·pay back his enemies [L repay] ·for what they have done [according to their deeds].
    He will show his ·anger [wrath] to ·those who were against him [his adversaries]
    and will ·punish [repay] his ·enemies [foes];
    he will ·punish [repay] the ·people in faraway places [or islands; or coastlands] as they deserve.
19 Then people from the west will fear the [L name of the] Lord,
    and people from the ·east [rising of the sun] will fear his glory.
·The Lord [L For he] will come quickly like a ·fast-flowing [or pent up] river,
    driven by the ·breath [or wind; or Spirit] of the Lord.

20 “Then a Savior will come to ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple]
    and to the people of Jacob who have turned from ·sin [transgressions],”
says the Lord [Rom. 11:26–27].

21 The Lord says, “This is my ·agreement [promise; covenant] with these people: My Spirit and my words that I ·give you [have put in your mouth] will ·never leave you [not depart from your mouth] or [L the mouth of] your ·children [descendants; seed] or [L the mouth of] your ·grandchildren [descendants’ descendants; L seed’s seed], now and forever [Jer. 31:31; Heb. 8:10; 10:16].”

59 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.