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Guilt Separates People From God

59 

Listen to me! The Lord’s arm is not too short to save,
and his ear is not too deaf to hear.
No, it is your guilt that has separated you from your God,
and your sins have hidden God’s face from you,
    so that he does not hear.
Look, your hands are polluted with blood,
and your fingers drip guilt.
Your lips speak lies.
Your tongue mutters dishonesty.
No one calls for justice,
and no one argues his cases honestly.
They rely on empty arguments and commit perjury!
They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness!
They hatch viper eggs,
and they weave spider webs.
Anyone who eats their eggs will die,
and a cracked egg hatches into a venomous snake.
They cannot make a garment from their webs,
and they will not be able to cover themselves with their deeds.
Their deeds are evil deeds,
and violent actions fill their hands.
Their feet run to do evil,
and they hurry to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are futile[a] thoughts.
Destruction and ruin are the destination of their highways.
They do not know the road to peace,
and there is no justice on the route they follow.
They made crooked paths for themselves.
No one who walks on them will experience peace.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 59:7 Or sinful

Rampant Transgression

59 Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short to save,[a]
    and his ear is not too dull to hear.[b]
Rather, your iniquities have been barriers[c] between you and your God,
    and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
    and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies,
    your tongue speaks wickedness.
There is nobody who pleads with[d] justice,
    and there is nobody who judges with honesty.
They rely on nothing
    and speak vanity.
They conceive trouble
    and beget iniquity;
they hatch viper eggs,
    and they weave a spider web.
One who eats their eggs dies,
    and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent.
Their webs cannot become clothing,
    and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their works are works of iniquity,
    and deeds[e] of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
    and they hasten to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    devastation and destruction are in their highways.
They do not know the way of peace,
    and there is no justice in their firm paths.
They have made their paths crooked for themselves;
    everyone who walks[f] in it knows no peace.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 59:1 Literally “from saving”
  2. Isaiah 59:1 Literally “from hearing”
  3. Isaiah 59:2 Literally “dividers”
  4. Isaiah 59:4 Literally “calling in”
  5. Isaiah 59:6 Hebrew “deed”
  6. Isaiah 59:8 Literally “walking”