Isaiah 59–60

Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished

⁵⁹See, the Lord’s arm is not too short to save,

nor his ear too dull to hear.^*

²Rather, your iniquities have been barriers

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.^*

³For your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

your tongue mutters wickedness.^*

⁴No one brings suit justly;

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas; they speak lies,

conceiving mischief and bearing iniquity.^*

⁵They hatch adders’ eggs

and weave the spider’s web;

whoever eats their eggs dies,

and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.^*

⁶Their webs cannot serve as clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.^*

⁷Their feet run to evil,

and they rush to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

desolation and destruction are in their highways.^*

⁸The way of peace they do not know,

and there is no justice in their ways.

Their roads they have made crooked;

no one who walks in them knows peace.^*

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and deliverance does not reach us;

we wait for light, but there is only darkness;

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.^*

¹⁰We grope like the blind along a wall,

groping like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

among the vigorous^c as though we were dead.^*

¹¹We all growl like bears;

like doves we moan mournfully.

We wait for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.^*

¹²For our transgressions before you are many,

and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions indeed are with us,

and we know our iniquities:^*

¹³transgressing and denying the Lord

and turning away from following our God,

talking oppression and revolt,

conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.^*

¹⁴Justice is turned back,

and deliverance stands at a distance,

for truth stumbles in the public square,

and uprightness cannot enter.^*

¹⁵Truth is lacking,

and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.^*

¹⁶He saw that there was no one

and was appalled that there was no one to intervene,

so his own arm brought him victory,

and his righteousness upheld him.^*

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing

and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.^*

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will he repay

wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;

to the coastlands he will render requital.^*

¹⁹So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,

and those in the east, his glory,

for he will come like a pent-up stream

that the wind of the Lord drives on.^*

²⁰And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord.^*

²¹And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouths of your children or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord, from now on and forever.^*

The Ingathering of the Dispersed

⁶⁰Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.^*

²For darkness shall cover the earth

and thick darkness the peoples,

but the Lord will arise upon you,

and his glory will appear over you.^*

³Nations shall come to your light

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.^*

⁴Lift up your eyes and look around;

they all gather together; they come to you;

your sons shall come from far away,

and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.^*

⁵Then you shall see and be radiant;

your heart shall thrill and rejoice,^d

because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;

the wealth of the nations shall come to you.^*

⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of Midian and Ephah;

all those from Sheba shall come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense

and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.^*

⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;

the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;

they shall be acceptable on my altar,^e

and I will glorify my glorious house.^*

⁸Who are these that fly like a cloud

and like doves to their windows?

⁹For the coastlands shall wait for me,

the ships of Tarshish first,

to bring your children from far away,

their silver and gold with them,

for the name of the Lord your God

and for the Holy One of Israel,

because he has glorified you.^*

¹⁰Foreigners shall build up your walls,

and their kings shall minister to you,

for in my wrath I struck you down,

but in my favor I have had mercy on you.^*

¹¹Your gates shall always be open;

day and night they shall not be shut,

so that nations shall bring you their wealth,

with their kings led in procession.^*

¹²For the nation and kingdom

that will not serve you shall perish;

those nations shall be utterly laid waste.^*

¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,

the cypress, the plane, and the pine,

to beautify the place of my sanctuary,

and I will glorify where my feet rest.^*

¹⁴The descendants of those who oppressed you

shall come bending low to you,

and all who despised you

shall bow down at your feet;

they shall call you the City of the Lord,

the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.^*

¹⁵Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,

with no one passing through,

I will make you majestic forever,

a joy from age to age.^*

¹⁶You shall suck the milk of nations;

you shall suck the breasts of kings,

and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.^*

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold;

instead of iron I will bring silver;

instead of wood, bronze;

instead of stones, iron.

I will appoint Peace as your overseer

and Righteousness as your taskmaster.

¹⁸Violence shall no more be heard in your land,

devastation or destruction within your borders;

you shall call your walls Salvation

and your gates Praise.^*

God the Glory of Zion

¹⁹The sun shall no longer be

your light by day,

nor for brightness shall the moon

give light to you by night,^f

but the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your God will be your glory.^*

²⁰Your sun shall no more go down

or your moon withdraw itself,

for the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your days of mourning shall be ended.^*

²¹Your people shall all be righteous;

they shall possess the land forever.

They are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands,

so that I might be glorified.^*

²²The least of them shall become a clan

and the smallest one a mighty nation;

I am the Lord;

in its time I will accomplish it quickly.^*