Isaiah 59
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 59
Sin and Repentance
1 Truly the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor is his ear too dull to hear.
2 Rather, it is your iniquities that have been barriers
between you and your God.
Your sins have caused him to hide his face
so that he does not hear you.
3 For your hands are stained with blood
and your fingers with guilt.
Your lips utter lies
and your tongue mutters wicked things.
4 No one brings a suit justly
or pleads honestly in court.
They all rely on empty words and utter lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth evil.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs will die;
crush one and a viper emerges.
6 Their webs are useless for clothing;
what they make cannot serve to cover them.
Their works are deeds of evil,
and acts of violence flow from their hands.
7 Their feet rush headlong to do evil,
and they do not hesitate to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are those of iniquity;
their paths are marked by havoc and ruin.
8 They do not know the way of peace,
and justice is not seen along their paths.
The roads they follow are crooked,
and no one who travels on them knows any peace.
9 Therefore, justice is far removed from us,
and righteousness is far beyond our reach.
We look for light but behold only darkness,
for brightness but we walk in gloom.
10 Like blind men we grope along a wall,
feeling our way like those bereft of eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight;
in the midst of the strong we are like the dead.
11 All of us growl like bears;
like doves we continue to moan mournfully.
We wait for justice but receive none,
for deliverance but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions against you are numerous,
and our sins bear witness against us.
We are unable to forget our offenses,
and we are well aware of our iniquities:
13 our rebellion and our denial of the Lord
and our turning away from following him,
threatening acts of oppression and revolt,
and uttering lies conceived in our hearts.
14 Justice has been rebuffed
and righteousness stands at a distance.
For truth stumbles in the public square
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth has disappeared,
and those who turn from evil are terrorized.
Zion’s Redeemer Comes
When the Lord witnessed this, he was displeased
that justice had ceased to exist.
16 He saw that no help was in sight,
and he was outraged that no one sought to intervene.
Therefore, his own arm effected the victory,
with his righteousness as his support.
17 He put on justice like a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in a cloak of zeal.
18 He will repay his enemies
according to their deeds:
wrath to his adversaries,
retribution to his enemies;
he will render requital
to the islands and the coastlands.
19 And so those in the west will fear the name of the Lord,
and those in the east his glory.
He will come like a pent-up stream
that is driven by the breath of the Lord.
20 He will come as a redeemer to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who cease to rebel.
This is the word of the Lord.
21 As for me, says the Lord,
this is my covenant with them:
my Spirit which rests upon you
and my words that I have put into your mouth
will not depart from your mouth
or out of the mouths of your children,
or out of the mouths of your children’s children,
says the Lord, from now on and forevermore.
Isaiah 59
Easy-to-Read Version
Evil People Should Change Their Lives
59 Look, the Lord’s power is enough to save you. He can hear you when you ask him for help. 2 It is your sins that separate you from your God. He turns away from you when he sees them. 3 That’s because your hands are covered with blood from the people you murdered. You tell lies and say evil things. 4 You can’t be trusted, even in court. You lie about each other and depend on false arguments to win your cases. You create pain and produce wickedness. 5 You hatch evil, like eggs from a poisonous snake. Anyone who eats the eggs will die. And if you break one of them open, a poisonous snake will come out.
Your lies are like spider webs. 6 They cannot be used for clothes, and you cannot cover yourself with them.
Your hands are always busy sinning and hurting others. 7 Your feet run toward evil. You are always ready to kill innocent people. You think of nothing but evil. Everywhere you go you cause trouble and ruin. 8 You don’t know how to live in peace. You don’t do what is right and fair. You are crooked, and anyone who lives like that will never know true peace.
Israel’s Sin Brings Trouble
9 All fairness and goodness is gone.
There is only darkness around us,
so we must wait for the light.
We hope for a bright light,
but all we have is darkness.
10 We are like people without eyes.
We walk into walls like blind people.
We stumble and fall as if it was night.
Even in the daylight, we cannot see.
At noontime, we fall like dead men.
11 We are always complaining;
we growl like bears and moan like doves.
We are waiting for justice,
but there is none.
We are waiting to be saved,
but salvation is still far away.
12 That’s because we committed crimes against our God.
Our own sins speak out against us.
We know we are guilty.
We know we have sinned.
13 We rebelled against the Lord
and lied to him.
We turned away from our God
and left him.
We planned to hurt others
and to rebel against God.
From hearts filled with lies,
we talked about it and made our plans.
14 We pushed Justice away.
Fairness stands off in the distance.
Truth has fallen in the streets.
Goodness is not allowed in the city.
15 Loyalty is gone,
and people who try to do good are robbed.
The Lord looked and saw there was no justice.
He did not like what he saw.
16 He did not see anyone speak up for the people.
He was shocked to see that no one stood up for them.
So with his own power he saved them.
His desire to do what is right gave him strength.
17 He put on the armor of goodness,
the helmet of salvation,
the uniform of punishment,
and the coat of strong love.[a]
18 He will give his enemies the punishment they deserve.
They will feel his anger.
He will punish all his enemies.
People along the coast will get the punishment they deserve.
19 People from the west to the east will fear the Lord
and respect his Glory.
He will come quickly, like a fast-flowing river
driven by a wind[b] from the Lord.
20 Then a redeemer[c] will come to Zion
to save the people of Jacob who have turned away from sin.
21 The Lord says, “As for me, this is the agreement that I will make with these people. I promise my Spirit that I put on you and my words that I put in your mouth will never leave you. They will be with you and your children and your children’s children, for now and forever.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 59:17 strong love The Hebrew word means strong feelings like love, hate, anger, zeal, or jealousy.
- Isaiah 59:19 wind Or “spirit.”
- Isaiah 59:20 redeemer Someone who sets a person free by paying their debt.
Isaiah 59
King James Version
59 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International