Isaiah 59:1-8

The Voice

59 The Eternal One’s reach is not so short that He cannot save you.
His ear is not so deaf that He cannot hear you.

Reactions vary to the awful events that sweep over Judah in the wake of the Babylonian invasion. Some people think that the God of Israel is defeated. This is exactly what the Babylonians hope the people will think and say; it makes the job of the tyrants and their deputies that much easier. So when the prophet announces that Israel’s God can and will rescue His displaced people, many reason that God may want to rescue them but cannot, for He is no match for the might of Babylon. Others are apparently wondering if God simply couldn’t hear their cries for help in the first place. Is Babylon too powerful? Are the exiles too far from home to be heard? The prophet knows the fears that reside in anxious hearts; but more than that, he knows the truth.

²Your persistent wrongdoing has come between you and your God;
    since you constantly reject and push God away,
He had to turn aside and ignore your cries.
³For your hands are covered with blood;
    your fingers are sticky with all manner of crimes;
Your lips drip vicious lies;
    your tongue mutters all manner of wickedness.
⁴Everyone misuses the judicial system,
    clogging it with twisted accusations and misleading testimony.
With empty charges and baseless lies
    they conceive trouble and give birth to injustice.
⁵They concoct and create the most poisonous things;
    it’s as if they hatch vipers’ eggs or weave spiders’ webs.
Eat their eggs and die; crush one and a viper is hatched—
    yet more poison, hurt, and distrust.
⁶There is nothing of value in their creations—
    the webs they weave are not fit to clothe or cover anyone.
The products they make are nothing but trouble;
    violence comes naturally to them.
⁷Their feet race to do evil;
    they rush to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are bent toward injustice;
    destruction and trouble line the roads of their lives.
⁸They never travel the path of peace;^[a]
    no justice is found where they have been.
They set a course down crooked roads;
    no one who follows their lead has a chance of knowing peace.