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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”

Sins that Separate from God

59 “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,
    nor are his ears[a] too dull to hear.
Instead, your iniquities have been barriers
    between you and your God,
and your sins have concealed his face from you
    so that he won’t listen.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
    and your fingers with iniquity;
        your tongue[b] mutters wickedness.
No one brings a lawsuit fairly,
    and no one goes to law honestly;
they have relied[c] on empty arguments
    and they tell lies;
they conceive[d] trouble
    and give birth[e] to iniquity.
They hatch[f] adders’ eggs[g]
    and weave[h] a spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
    and any crushed egg hatches out futility.[i]
Their cobwebs cannot become clothing,
    they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are deeds of iniquity,
    and acts of violence fill their hands.
Their feet rush to evil,
    and they are quick to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
    ruin, destruction, and violence[j] are in their paths.
The pathway of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their courses.
They have made their roads crooked;
    no one who walks in them will know peace.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 59:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read ear
  2. Isaiah 59:3 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read your lips have spoken lies, your tongue
  3. Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab; MT reads they rely
  4. Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT reads to conceive
  5. Isaiah 59:4 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab; MT reads and to give birth
  6. Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT reads They have hatched; LXX reads hatched
  7. Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read an adder’s eggs
  8. Isaiah 59:5 So 1QIsaa; MT reads weave, but with a different Heb. word
  9. Isaiah 59:5 Lit. a viper; so 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX utilize feminine form
  10. Isaiah 59:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and violence