Sin, Confession and Redemption

59 Surely the armu of the Lord is not too shortv to save,

nor his ear too dull to hear.w

2 But your iniquities have separatedx

you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

so that he will not hear.y

3 For your hands are stained with blood,z

your fingers with guilt.a

Your lips have spoken falsely,b

and your tongue mutters wicked things.

4 No one calls for justice;c

no one pleads a case with integrity.

They relyd on empty arguments, they utter lies;e

they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.f

5 They hatch the eggs of vipersg

and spin a spider’s web.h

Whoever eats their eggs will die,

and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.

6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.i

Their deeds are evil deeds,

and acts of violencej are in their hands.

7 Their feet rush into sin;

they are swift to shed innocent blood.k

They pursue evil schemes;l

acts of violence mark their ways.m

8 The way of peace they do not know;n

there is no justice in their paths.

They have turned them into crooked roads;o

no one who walks along them will know peace.p

9 So justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not reach us.

We look for light, but all is darkness;q

for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.

10 Like the blindr we grope along the wall,

feeling our way like people without eyes.

At midday we stumbles as if it were twilight;

among the strong, we are like the dead.t

11 We all growl like bears;

we moan mournfully like doves.u

We look for justice, but find none;

for deliverance, but it is far away.

12 For our offensesv are many in your sight,

and our sins testifyw against us.

Our offenses are ever with us,

and we acknowledge our iniquities:x

13 rebelliony and treachery against the Lord,

turning our backsz on our God,

inciting revolt and oppression,a

uttering liesb our hearts have conceived.

14 So justicec is driven back,

and righteousnessd stands at a distance;

truthe has stumbled in the streets,

honesty cannot enter.

15 Truthf is nowhere to be found,

and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.g

16 He saw that there was no one,h

he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;i

so his own arm achieved salvationj for him,

and his own righteousnessk sustained him.

17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,l

and the helmetm of salvation on his head;

he put on the garmentsn of vengeanceo

and wrapped himself in zealp as in a cloak.

18 According to what they have done,

so will he repayq

wrath to his enemies

and retribution to his foes;

he will repay the islandsr their due.

19 From the west,s people will fear the name of the Lord,

and from the rising of the sun,t they will revere his glory.u

For he will come like a pent-up flood

that the breathv of the Lord drives along.a

20 “The Redeemerw will come to Zion,x

to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,”y

declares the Lord.

21 “As for me, this is my covenantz with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit,a who is on you, will not depart from you,b and my words that I have put in your mouthc will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.