Isaiah 59:9-19

English Standard Version

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not overtake us;
^(A)we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰^(B)We grope for the wall like the blind;
    we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    ^(C)among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
¹¹We all growl like bears;
    ^(D)we moan and moan like doves;
^(E)we hope for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
    and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
¹³transgressing, and denying the Lord,
    and turning back from following our God,
^(F)speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

¹⁴^(G)Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵Truth is lacking,
    and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him^[a]
    that there was no justice.
¹⁶^(H)He saw that there was no man,
    and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
    and his righteousness upheld him.
¹⁷^(I)He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in ^(J)zeal as a cloak.
¹⁸^(K)According to their deeds, so will he repay,
    wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
    ^(L)to the coastlands he will render repayment.
¹⁹^(M)So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
    and his glory from the rising of the sun;
^(N)for he will come like a rushing stream,^[b]
    which the wind of the Lord drives.