Isaiah 59:2–13

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.