因罪与主隔绝

59 看啊,耶和华的臂膀并非没有力量拯救,

祂的耳朵并非聋得听不见。
你们的罪过使你们与上帝隔绝,
你们的罪恶使祂转脸不看你们,
也不听你们的祈求。
你们的手染满了血污,
手指沾满了罪恶。
你们的嘴唇吐出谎言,
舌头嘀咕恶事。
无人按公义诉讼,
无人凭诚实申辩。
你们依靠诡辩,口出谎言,
心怀鬼胎,生出罪恶。
你们孵毒蛇蛋,
人吃了这蛋必死,
蛋破后爬出毒蛇。
你们编蜘蛛网,
这网不能做衣服遮盖你们。
你们行为邪恶,
做事残暴。
你们奔向邪恶,
急于滥杀无辜;
你们心怀恶念,
所到之处大肆毁灭。
你们不知道平安之路,
你们的行径毫无公正;
你们走歪门邪道,
跟从你们的必得不到平安。
因此,正义远离我们,
公义临不到我们。
我们渴望光明,却得到黑暗;
我们渴望曙光,却仍然走在幽暗中。
10 我们像盲人一样沿墙摸索,
像无眼睛的人一样探路。
我们在中午也跌跌撞撞,
如同走在晚上。
我们在强壮人当中如同死人。
11 我们像熊一样咆哮,
如鸽子一般哀鸣。
我们渴望正义,却得不到;
渴望得到拯救,却遥不可及。
12 因为我们在上帝面前过犯累累,
我们的罪恶向我们发出控诉。
我们被过犯缠身,自知有罪。
13 我们悖逆,否认耶和华,
离弃我们的上帝,
说欺压、叛逆的话,
吐露心中编织的谎言。
14 正义被赶逐,
公义不能靠近,
真理倒在街上,
正直被拒之门外。
15 真理无处可寻,
远离恶事的人反成了猎物。
耶和华因正义荡然无存而不悦。
16 祂因无人、
无一个人主持公道而惊讶,
于是亲自伸出臂膀,
以自己的公义施行拯救。
17 祂以公义作铠甲,
以救恩作头盔,
以复仇作衣服,
以热忱作外袍。
18 祂必按各人的行为报应各人,
向祂的敌人发烈怒,
惩罚祂的仇敌,
向众海岛施行报应。
19 这样,日落之处的人必敬畏耶和华的名,
日出之地的人必对祂的荣耀肃然起敬。
祂必奔来,如被耶和华之气推动的急流。

20 耶和华说:“必有一位救赎主来到锡安,
到雅各那些离弃罪恶的子孙那里。”

21 耶和华说:“我亲自与他们立约,我赐给他们的灵和我放在他们口中的话,必不离开他们和他们的子子孙孙,从现在直到永远。这是耶和华说的。”

Sins that Separate from God

59 “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,
    nor are his ears[a] too dull to hear.
Instead, your iniquities have been barriers
    between you and your God,
and your sins have concealed his face from you
    so that he won’t listen.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
    and your fingers with iniquity;
        your tongue[b] mutters wickedness.
No one brings a lawsuit fairly,
    and no one goes to law honestly;
they have relied[c] on empty arguments
    and they tell lies;
they conceive[d] trouble
    and give birth[e] to iniquity.
They hatch[f] adders’ eggs[g]
    and weave[h] a spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
    and any crushed egg hatches out futility.[i]
Their cobwebs cannot become clothing,
    they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are deeds of iniquity,
    and acts of violence fill their hands.
Their feet rush to evil,
    and they are quick to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    ruin, destruction, and violence[j] are in their paths.
The pathway of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their courses.
They have made their roads crooked;
    no one who walks in them will know peace.”

A Commitment to Wait on God

“So justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We wait for light, but look—there is darkness;
    we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness.[k]
10 Let’s grope[l] along the wall like the blind;
    let us grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as if it were twilight,
    in desolate places[m] like dead people.
11 We all growl like bears;
    we[n] sigh mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
    and[o] for deliverance, but it’s far from us.

12 “For our transgressions before you are many,
    and our sins testify[p] against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and as for our iniquities,
        we acknowledge them:
13 they’ve rebelled[q] in[r] treachery against the Lord,
    and are turning away from following our God;
and they’ve spoken[s] oppression and revolt,
    and are conceiving[t] lying words from the heart.
14 I’ll drive back justice,[u]
    and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth has fallen in the public square,
    and honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is missing,
    and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey.”

God Brings His Own Salvation

“Then the Lord looked, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no one,
    and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm[v] brought him victory,
    and his righteous acts upheld him.
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in fury like a cloak.
18 So he will repay according to their action:
    Anger to his enemies, retribution to his foes;
        to the coastlands he will render their due.
19 So people will fear the name of the Lord from the west,
    and his glories[w] from the rising of the sun;
for he will come as a pent-up stream
    that the breath of the Lord drives along.

20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” says the Lord.

21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,”[x] says the Lord. “And[y] my Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, won’t depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children,[z] from now on and forever.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 59:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read ear
  2. Isaiah 59:3 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read your lips have spoken lies, your tongue
  3. Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab; MT reads they rely
  4. Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT reads to conceive
  5. Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab; MT reads and to give birth
  6. Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT reads They have hatched; LXX reads hatched
  7. Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read an adder’s eggs
  8. Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsaa; MT reads weave, but with a different Heb. word
  9. Isaiah 59:5 Lit. a viper; so 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX utilize feminine form
  10. Isaiah 59:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and violence
  11. Isaiah 59:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads darknesses
  12. Isaiah 59:10 So 1QIsaa; MT reads We grope LXX reads They grope
  13. Isaiah 59:10 Or among vigorous people
  14. Isaiah 59:11 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and we
  15. Isaiah 59:11 So 1QIsaa; Not in MT LXX
  16. Isaiah 59:12 1QIsaa cf. LXX; MT reads sin testifies
  17. Isaiah 59:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads rebellion LXX reads we have sinned
  18. Isaiah 59:13 Lit. and
  19. Isaiah 59:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads speaking LXX reads we have spoken
  20. Isaiah 59:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads conceiving and uttering; LXX reads we have conceived and thought about
  21. Isaiah 59:14 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Justice is driven back LXX reads We withdrew justice
  22. Isaiah 59:16 I.e. the Messiah
  23. Isaiah 59:19 So 1QIsaa; MT reads glory LXX reads his glorious name
  24. Isaiah 59:21 So 1QIsaa MTmss LXX; 1QIsab MT read them, but the reading contains a grammatical object error
  25. Isaiah 59:21 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX lack And
  26. Isaiah 59:21 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX read children, says the Lord,

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.