The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened,
that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you
and your God, and your sins have hidden his face
from you, so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies.
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one sues in righteousness,
and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity
and speak lies. They conceive mischief
and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web.
He who eats of their eggs dies;
and that which is crushed breaks out
into a viper.
6 Their webs won’t become garments.
They won’t cover themselves with
their works. Their works are works of iniquity,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they hurry to shed innocent
blood. heir thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.
Desolation and destruction are in
their paths.
8 They don’t know the way of peace;
and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made crooked paths for themselves;
whoever goes in them doesn’t know
peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness doesn’t overtake
us. We look for light, but see darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind.
Yes, we grope as those who have no
eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
Among those who are strong, we are
like dead men.
11 We all roar like bears and moan sadly like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied
before you, and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and as for our iniquities, we know
them:
13 transgressing and denying Yahweh,
and turning away from following our
God, speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the
heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned away backward,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has fallen in the street,
and uprightness can’t enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking;
and he who departs from evil makes
himself a prey. Yahweh saw it,
and it displeased him that there was
no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
and wondered thatthere was no intercessor.
Therefore his own arm brought salvation
to him; and his righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He put ongarments of vengeance for clothing,
and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
18 According to their deeds,
he will repay as appropriate:
wrath to his adversaries,
recompense to his enemies.
He will repay the islands their due.
19 So they will fear Yahweh’s name from
the west, and his glory from the rising of the
sun; for he will come as a rushing stream,
which Yahweh’s breath drives.
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says Yahweh.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with
them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is
on you, and my words which I have put
in your mouth shall not depart out of
your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your
offspring, nor out of the mouth of your
offspring’s offspring,” says Yahweh, “from
now on and forever.”