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Chapter 59

Salvation Delayed

[a]No, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.(A)
Rather, 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.

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Footnotes

  1. 59:1–20 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.

Sin, Confession and Redemption

59 Surely the arm(A) of the Lord is not too short(B) to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.(C)
But your iniquities have separated(D)
    you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.(E)

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19 [a]Too long have we been like those you do not rule,
    on whom your name is not invoked.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    with the mountains quaking before you,(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 63:19–64:3 A new theophany, like Sinai of old, is invoked so that Israel’s enemies will be humbled by God’s intervention.

19 We are yours from of old;
    but you have not ruled over them,
    they have not been called[a] by your name.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 63:19 Or We are like those you have never ruled, / like those never called