Isaiah 59:1-15 ▼

1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save, Nor His ear so impaired That it cannot hear.

2 But your wickedness has separated you from your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing]; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue mutters wickedness.

4 No one sues righteously [but for the sake of doing injury to others—to take some undue advantage], and no one pleads [his case] in truth; [but rather] They trust in empty arguments and speak lies; They conceive trouble and bring forth injustice.

5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s webs; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from an egg which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6 Their webs will not serve as clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with what they make; Their works are works of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing], And the act of violence is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil, And they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing]; Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

8 They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks. They have made them into crooked paths; Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us. We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness; We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom.

10 We grope for a wall like the blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like dead men.

11 We all groan and growl like bears, And coo sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You [O LORD], And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know and recognize our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]:

13 Rebelling against and denying the LORD, Turning away from [following] our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and muttering from the heart lying words.

14 Justice is pushed back, And righteous behavior stands far away; For truth has fallen in the city square, And integrity cannot enter.

15 Yes, truth is missing; And he who turns away from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw it, And it displeased Him that there was no justice.