Isaiah 59
Common English Bible
Alienation from God
59 Look! The Lord does not lack the power to save,
nor are his ears too dull to hear,
2 but your misdeeds have separated you from your God.
Your sins have hidden his face from you
so that you aren’t heard.
3 Your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with guilt.
Your lips speak lies;
your tongues mutter malice.
4 No one sues honestly;
no one pleads truthfully.
By trusting in emptiness and speaking deceit,
they conceive harm and give birth to malice.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs,
and weave spiderwebs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die.
Moreover, the crushed egg hatches a viper.
6 Their webs can’t serve as clothing;
they can’t cover themselves with their deeds.
Their deeds are deeds of malice,
and the work of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil;
they rush to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of malice;
desolation and destruction litter their highways.
8 They don’t know the way of peace;
there’s no justice in their paths.
They make their roads crooked;
no one who walks in them knows peace.
Injustice obscures vision
9 Because of all this, justice is far from us,
and righteousness beyond our reach.
We expect light, and there is darkness;
we await a gleam of light, but walk about in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like the blind;
like those without eyes we grope.
We stumble at noonday as if it were twilight,
and among the strong as if we were dying.
11 All of us growl like bears,
and like doves we moan.
We expect justice, but there is none;
we await salvation, but it is far from us.
12 Our rebellions are numerous in your presence;
our sins testify against us.
Our rebellions are with us;
we’re aware of our guilt:
13 defying and denying the Lord,
turning away from our God,
planning oppression and revolt,
muttering lying words conceived in our minds.
14 Justice is pushed aside;
righteousness stands far off,
because truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty can’t enter.
15 Truth is missing;
anyone turning from evil is plundered.
God will intervene
The Lord looked and was upset at the absence of justice.
16 Seeing that there was no one,
and astonished that no one would intervene,
God’s arm brought victory,
upheld by righteousness,
17 putting on righteousness as armor
and a helmet of salvation on his head,
putting on garments of vengeance,
and wrapping himself in a cloak of zeal.
18 God will repay according to their actions:
wrath to his foes, retribution to enemies,
retribution to the coastlands,
19 so those in the west will fear the Lord’s name,
and those in the east will fear God’s glory.
It will come like a rushing river
that the Lord’s wind drives on.
20 A redeemer will come to Zion
and to those in Jacob who stop rebelling,
says the Lord.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord.
My spirit, which is upon you,
and my words, which I have placed in your mouth
won’t depart from your mouth,
nor from the mouths of your descendants,
nor from the mouths of your descendants’ children,
says the Lord,
forever and always.
Isaiah 59
Amplified Bible
Separation from God
59 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save,
Nor His ear so [a]impaired
That it cannot hear.
2
But your wickedness has separated you from your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
3
For your hands are defiled with blood
And your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing];
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4
No one sues righteously [but for the sake of doing injury to others—to take some undue advantage], and no one pleads [his case] in truth; [but rather]
They trust in empty arguments and speak lies;
They conceive trouble and bring forth injustice.
5
They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s webs;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from an egg which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6
Their webs will not serve as clothing,
Nor will they cover themselves with what they make;
Their works are works of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing],
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7
Their feet run to evil,
And they rush to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing];
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
8
They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks.
They have made them into crooked paths;
Whoever walks on them does not know peace.(A)
A Confession of Wickedness
9
Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us.
We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness;
We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom.
10
We grope for a wall like the blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are like dead men.
11
We all groan and growl like bears,
And coo sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12
For our transgressions are multiplied before You [O Lord],
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And we know and recognize our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]:
13
Rebelling against and denying the Lord,
Turning away from [following] our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and muttering from the heart lying words.
14
Justice is pushed back,
And righteous behavior stands far away;
For truth has fallen in the city square,
And [b]integrity cannot enter.
15
Yes, truth is missing;
And he who turns away from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw it,
And it [c]displeased Him that there was no justice.
16
He saw that there was no man,
And was amazed that there was no one to intercede [on behalf of truth and right];
Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His own righteousness sustained Him.(B)
17
For He [the Lord] put on righteousness like a coat of armor,
And salvation like a helmet on His head;
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And covered Himself with zeal [and great love for His people] as a cloak.(C)
18
As their deeds deserve, so He will repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies;
To the islands and coastlands He will repay.
19
So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun.
For He will come in like a narrow, rushing stream
Which the [d]breath of the Lord drives [overwhelming the enemy].(D)
20
“A Redeemer (Messiah) will come to Zion,
And to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from transgression (sin),” declares the Lord.
21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit which is upon you [writing the law of God on the heart], and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your [true, spiritual] [e]children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”(E)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 59:1 Lit dull.
- Isaiah 59:14 Lit straightforwardness.
- Isaiah 59:15 Lit was evil in His eyes.
- Isaiah 59:19 Or Spirit.
- Isaiah 59:21 Lit seed.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
