Isaiah 59:9–15

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not reach us.

We wait for light, but^g look! there is darkness;

for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

¹⁰We grope like the blind along a wall,

and we grope as without^h eyes.

We stumble at noon as in the twilight;

among the strong we are like the dead.

¹¹We all groan like bears,

and we coo mutteringly like doves.

We wait for justice, butⁱ there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are numerous before you,

and our sins testify^j against us.

Indeed, our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgressing and denying Yahweh,

and turning away from following^k our God;

speaking oppression and falsehood,

conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.

¹⁴And justice is pushed back,

and righteousness stands afar;

for truth stumbles in the public square,

and straightforwardness is unable to enter,

¹⁵and truth is missing,

and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.

And Yahweh saw,

and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice