Isaiah 59:9–15

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.^*