| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | NET Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Look, the LORD's hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, a poisonous snake is hatched. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7They are eager to do evil, quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9For this reason deliverance is far from us and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, but see only darkness; we wait for a bright light, but live in deep darkness. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, and our sins testify against us; indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds; we know our sins all too well. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13We have rebelled and tried to deceive the LORD; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Justice is driven back; godliness stands far off. Indeed, honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Honesty has disappeared; the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed. The LORD watches and is displeased, for there is no justice. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16He sees there is no advocate; he is shocked that no one intervenes. So he takes matters into his own hands; his desire for justice drives him on. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17He wears his desire for justice like body armor, and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. He puts on the garments of vengeance and wears zeal like a robe. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18He repays them for what they have done, dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries and punishing his enemies. He repays the coastlands. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19In the west, people respect the LORD's reputation; in the east they recognize his splendor. For he comes like a rushing stream driven on by wind sent from the LORD. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20"A protector comes to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds," says the LORD. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21"As for me, this is my promise to them," says the LORD. "My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward," says the LORD. |
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