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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.

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A Confession of Wickedness

Therefore (A)justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not reach us;
We (B)hope for light, but there is darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We (C)grope for the wall like people who are blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We (D)stumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are (E)like the dead.
11 All of us growl like bears,
And (F)moan sadly like doves;
We hope for (G)justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our (H)wrongful acts have multiplied before You,
And our (I)sins have testified against us;
For our wrongful acts are with us,
And [a]we know our wrongdoings:
13 [b]Offending and (J)denying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking (K)oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and (L)uttering lying words from the heart.
14 (M)Justice is turned back,
And (N)righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
And one who turns aside from evil (O)makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was [c]displeasing in His sight (P)that there was no justice.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 59:12 Lit our wrongdoings we know them
  2. Isaiah 59:13 Or Revolting against and
  3. Isaiah 59:15 Or evil