Isaiah 59

Sin, Confession and Redemption

59Surely the arm^u of the Lord is not too short^v to save,

nor his ear too dull to hear.^w

²But your iniquities have separated^x

you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

so that he will not hear.^y

³For your hands are stained with blood,^z

your fingers with guilt.^a

Your lips have spoken falsely,^b

and your tongue mutters wicked things.

⁴No one calls for justice;^c

no one pleads a case with integrity.

They rely^d on empty arguments, they utter lies;^e

they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.^f

⁵They hatch the eggs of vipers^g

and spin a spider’s web.^h

Whoever eats their eggs will die,

and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.

⁶Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.ⁱ

Their deeds are evil deeds,

and acts of violence^j are in their hands.

⁷Their feet rush into sin;

they are swift to shed innocent blood.^k

They pursue evil schemes;^l

acts of violence mark their ways.^m

⁸The 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

⁹So 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.

¹⁰Like the blind^r we grope along the wall,

feeling our way like people without eyes.

At midday we stumble^s as if it were twilight;

among the strong, we are like the dead.^t

¹¹We all growl like bears;

we moan mournfully like doves.^u

We look for justice, but find none;

for deliverance, but it is far away.

¹²For our offenses^v are many in your sight,

and our sins testify^w against us.

Our offenses are ever with us,

and we acknowledge our iniquities:^x

¹³rebellion^y and treachery against the Lord,

turning our backs^z on our God,

inciting revolt and oppression,^a

uttering lies^b our hearts have conceived.

¹⁴So justice^c is driven back,

and righteousness^d stands at a distance;

truth^e has stumbled in the streets,

honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth^f is nowhere to be found,

and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.^g

¹⁶He saw that there was no one,^h

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

so his own arm achieved salvation^j for him,

and his own righteousness^k sustained him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as his breastplate,^l

and the helmet^m of salvation on his head;

he put on the garmentsⁿ of vengeance^o

and wrapped himself in zeal^p as in a cloak.

¹⁸According to what they have done,

so will he repay^q

wrath to his enemies

and retribution to his foes;

he will repay the islands^r their due.

¹⁹From 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 breath^v of the Lord drives along.^a

²⁰“The Redeemer^w 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 covenant^z 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 mouth^c 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.