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59 Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save;
    nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.
But your iniquities have separated you and your God,
    and your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
    and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies.
    Your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one sues in righteousness,
    and no one pleads in truth.
They trust in vanity,
    and speak lies.
They conceive mischief,
    and give birth to iniquity.
They hatch adders’ eggs,
    and weave the spider’s web.
He who eats of their eggs dies;
    and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
Their webs won’t become garments.
    They won’t cover themselves with their works.
Their works are works of iniquity,
    and acts of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
    and they hurry to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.
    Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
They don’t know the way of peace;
    and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made crooked paths for themselves;
    whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.

Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness doesn’t overtake us.
We look for light, but see darkness;
    for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind.
    Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
    Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
11 We all roar like bears
    and moan bitterly like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
    for salvation, but it is far off from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
    and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing and denying Yahweh,
    and turning away from following our God,
    speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned away backward,
    and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has fallen in the street,
    and uprightness can’t enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking;
    and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Yahweh saw it,
    and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
    and wondered that there was no intercessor.
Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him;
    and his righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
18 According to their deeds,
    he will repay as appropriate,
    wrath to his adversaries,
    recompense to his enemies;
    he will repay the islands their due.
19 So they will fear Yahweh’s name from the west,
    and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come as a rushing stream,
    which Yahweh’s breath drives.

20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
    and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says Yahweh.

21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”

Warnings against Sin

59 Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you,
    nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.
    Because of your sins, he has turned away
    and will not listen anymore.
Your hands are the hands of murderers,
    and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
    and your mouth spews corruption.

No one cares about being fair and honest.
    The people’s lawsuits are based on lies.
They conceive evil deeds
    and then give birth to sin.
They hatch deadly snakes
    and weave spiders’ webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
    whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.
Their webs can’t be made into clothing,
    and nothing they do is productive.
All their activity is filled with sin,
    and violence is their trademark.
Their feet run to do evil,
    and they rush to commit murder.
They think only about sinning.
    Misery and destruction always follow them.
They don’t know where to find peace
    or what it means to be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads,
    and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.

So there is no justice among us,
    and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
    We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
    we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
    we are like the dead.
11 We growl like hungry bears;
    we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
    We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before God
    and testify against us.
    Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
    We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
    carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
    and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
    and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
    and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The Lord looked and was displeased
    to find there was no justice.
16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened
    to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
    and his justice sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his body armor
    and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance
    and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18 He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
    His fury will fall on his foes.
    He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19 In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord;
    in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
    driven by the breath of the Lord.[a]

20 “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
    to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”[b]
    says the Lord.

21 “And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!

Footnotes

  1. 59:19 Or When the enemy comes like a raging flood tide, / the Spirit of the Lord will drive him back.
  2. 59:20 Hebrew The Redeemer will come to Zion / to buy back those in Jacob / who have turned from their sins. Greek version reads The one who rescues will come on behalf of Zion, / and he will turn Jacob away from ungodliness. Compare Rom 11:26.