Isaiah 59:9-15

New International Reader's Version

⁹ We aren’t being treated fairly.
    We haven’t been set free yet.
The God who always does what is right
    hasn’t come to help us.
We look for light, but we see nothing but darkness.
    We look for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
¹⁰ Like blind people we feel our way along the wall.
    We are like those who can’t see.
At noon we trip and fall as if the sun had already set.
    Compared to those who are healthy, we are like dead people.
¹¹ All of us growl like hungry bears.
    We sound like doves as we mourn.
We want the Lord to do what is fair and save us.
    But he doesn’t do it.
We long for him to set us free.
    But the time for that seems far away.

¹² That’s because we’ve done so many things he considers wrong.
    Our sins prove that we are guilty.
The wrong things we’ve done are always troubling us.
    We admit that we have sinned.
¹³ We’ve refused to obey the Lord.
    We’ve made evil plans against him.
    We’ve turned our backs on our God.
We’ve stirred up conflict and refused to follow him.
    We’ve told lies that came from our own minds.
¹⁴ So people stop others from doing what is fair.
    They keep them from doing what is right.
No one tells the truth in court anymore.
    No one is honest there.
¹⁵ In fact, truth can’t be found anywhere.
    Those who refuse to do evil are attacked.

The Lord sees that people aren’t treating others fairly.
    That makes him unhappy.