Isaiah 59

The Evil That People Do

1 Surely the Lord’s power is enough to save you. He can hear you when you ask him for help.

2 It is your evil that has separated you from your God.
Your sins cause him to turn away from you, so he does not hear you.

3 With your hands you have killed others, and with your fingers you have done wrong.
With your lips you have lied, and with your tongue you say evil things.

4 People take each other to court unfairly, and no one tells the truth in arguing his case.
They accuse each other falsely and tell lies. They cause trouble and create more evil.

5 They hatch evil like eggs from poisonous snakes. If you eat one of those eggs, you will die, and if you break one open, a poisonous snake comes out.
People tell lies as they would spin a spider’s web.

6 The webs they make cannot be used for clothes; you can’t cover yourself with those webs.
The things they do are evil, and they use their hands to hurt others.

7 They eagerly run to do evil, and they are always ready to kill innocent people.
They think evil thoughts. Everywhere they go they cause ruin and destruction.

8 They don’t know how to live in peace, and there is no fairness in their lives.
They are dishonest. Anyone who lives as they live will never have peace.

Israel’s Sin Brings Trouble

9 Fairness has gone far away; goodness is nowhere to be found.
We wait for the light, but there is only darkness now. We hope for a bright light, but all we have is darkness.

10 We are like the blind feeling our way along a wall. We feel our way as if we had no eyes.
In the brightness of day we trip as if it were night. We are like dead men among the strong.

11 All of us growl like the bears. We call out sadly like the doves.
We look for justice, but there isn’t any. We want to be saved, but salvation is far away.

12 We have done many wrong things against our God; our sins show we are wrong.
We know we have turned against God; we know the evil things we have done:

13 sinning and rejecting the Lord, turning away from our God,
planning to hurt others and to disobey God, planning and speaking lies.

14 So we have driven away justice, and we have kept away from what is right.
Truth is not spoken in the streets; what is honest is not allowed to enter the city.

15 Truth cannot be found anywhere, and people who refuse to do evil are attacked.
The Lord looked and could not find any justice, and he was displeased.

16 He could not find anyone to help the people, and he was surprised that there was no one to help.
So he used his own power to save the people; his own goodness gave him strength.

17 He covered himself with goodness like armor. He put the helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on his clothes for punishing and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.

18 The Lord will pay back his enemies for what they have done. He will show his anger to those who were against him; he will punish the people in faraway places as they deserve.

19 Then people from the west will fear the Lord, and people from the east will fear his glory.
The Lord will come quickly like a fast-flowing river, driven by the breath of the Lord.

20 “Then a Savior will come to Jerusalem and to the people of Jacob who have turned from sin,” says the Lord.
21 The Lord says, “This is my agreement with these people: My Spirit and my words that I give you will never leave you or your children or your grandchildren, now and forever.”

Isaiah 59

1 Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:2 but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid 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 muttereth wickedness.4 None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.5 They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths.8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein doth not know peace.9 Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.10 We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty we are as dead men.11 We roar all like bears, and moan sore 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 thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:13 transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.14 And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.15 Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it upheld him.17 And he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.19 So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah driveth.20 And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith Jehovah.21 And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith Jehovah: my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever.