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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.

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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”