Isaiah 59–60

¹Lo, the hand of Jehovah Hath not been shortened from saving, Nor heavy his ear from hearing. ²But your iniquities have been separating Between you and your God, And your sins have hidden The Presence from you—from hearing. ³For your hands have been polluted with blood, And your fingers with iniquity, Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue perverseness doth mutter. ⁴There is none calling in righteousness, And there is none pleading in faithfulness, Trusting on emptiness, and speaking falsehood, Conceiving perverseness, and bearing iniquity. ⁵Eggs of a viper they have hatched, And webs of a spider they weave, Whoso is eating their eggs doth die, And the crushed hatcheth a viper. ⁶Their webs become not a garment, Nor do they cover themselves with their works, Their works are works of iniquity, And a deed of violence is in their hands. ⁷Their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed innocent blood, Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Spoiling and destruction are in their highways. ⁸A way of peace they have not known, And there is no judgment in their paths, Their paths they have made perverse for themselves, No treader in it hath known peace.

⁹Therefore hath judgment been far from us, And righteousness reacheth us not, We wait for light, and lo, darkness, For brightness—in thick darkness we go, ¹⁰We feel like the blind for the wall, Yea, as without eyes we feel, We have stumbled at noon as at twilight, In desolate places as the dead. ¹¹We make a noise as bears—all of us, And as doves we coo sorely; We wait for judgment, and there is none, For salvation—it hath been far from us. ¹²For our transgressions have been multiplied before Thee, And our sins have testified against us, For our transgressions are with us, And our iniquities—we have known them. ¹³Transgressing, and lying against Jehovah, And removing from after our God, Speaking oppression and apostasy, Conceiving and uttering from the heart Words of falsehood. ¹⁴And removed backward is judgment, And righteousness afar off standeth, For truth hath been feeble in the street, And straightforwardness is not able to enter, ¹⁵And the truth is lacking, And whoso is turning aside from evil, Is making himself a spoil. And Jehovah seeth, and it is evil in His eyes, That there is no judgment.

¹⁶And He seeth that there is no man, And is astonished that there is no intercessor, And His own arm giveth salvation to Him, And His righteousness—it sustained Him. ¹⁷And He putteth on righteousness as a breastplate, And an helmet of salvation on His head, And He putteth on garments of vengeance for clothing, And is covered, as with an upper-robe, with zeal. ¹⁸According to deeds—so He repayeth. Fury to His adversaries, their deed to His enemies, To the isles their deed He repayeth. ¹⁹And they fear from the west the name of Jehovah, And from the rising of the sun—His honour, When come in as a flood doth an adversary, The Spirit of Jehovah hath raised an ensign against him. ²⁰And come to Zion hath a redeemer, Even to captives of transgression in Jacob, An affirmation of Jehovah. ²¹And I—this is My covenant with them, said Jehovah, My Spirit that is on thee, And My words that I have put in thy mouth, Depart not from thy mouth, And from the mouth of thy seed, And from the mouth of thy seed’s seed, said Jehovah, From henceforth unto the age!

Chapter 60

¹Arise, be bright, for come hath thy light, And the honour of Jehovah hath risen on thee. ²For, lo, the darkness doth cover the earth, And thick darkness the peoples, And on thee rise doth Jehovah, And His honour on thee is seen. ³And come have nations to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising. ⁴Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All of them have been gathered, they have come to thee, Thy sons from afar do come, And thy daughters on the side are supported. ⁵Then thou seest, and hast become bright, And thine heart hath been afraid and enlarged, For turn unto thee doth the multitude of the sea, The forces of nations do come to thee. ⁶A company of camels covereth thee, Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, All of them from Sheba do come, Gold and frankincense they bear, And of the praises of Jehovah they proclaim the tidings. ⁷All the flock of Kedar are gathered to thee, The rams of Nebaioth do serve thee, They ascend for acceptance Mine altar, And the house of My beauty I beautify. ⁸Who are these—as a thick cloud they fly, And as doves unto their windows?

⁹Surely for Me isles do wait, And ships of Tarshish first, To bring thy sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, To the name of Jehovah thy God, And to the Holy One of Israel, Because He hath beautified thee. ¹⁰And sons of a stranger have built thy walls, And their kings do serve thee, For in My wrath I have smitten thee, And in My good pleasure I have pitied thee. ¹¹And opened have thy gates continually, By day and by night they are not shut, To bring unto thee the force of nations, Even their kings are led. ¹²For the nation and the kingdom that do not serve thee perish, Yea, the nations are utterly wasted. ¹³The honour of Lebanon unto thee doth come, Fir, pine, and box together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary, And the place of My feet I make honourable. ¹⁴And come unto thee, bowing down, Have sons of those afflicting thee, And bowed themselves to the soles of thy feet Have all despising thee, And they have cried to thee: ‘City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’

¹⁵Instead of thy being forsaken and hated, And none passing through, I have made thee for an excellency age-during, A joy of generation and generation. ¹⁶And thou hast sucked the milk of nations, Yea, the breast of kings thou suckest, And thou hast known that I, Jehovah, Thy Saviour, and Thy Redeemer, Am the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷Instead of the brass I bring in gold, And instead of the iron I bring in silver, And instead of the wood brass, And instead of the stone iron, And I have made thy inspection peace, And thy exactors righteousness. ¹⁸Violence is not heard any more in thy land, Spoiling and destruction in thy borders, And thou hast called ‘Salvation’ thy walls, And thy gates, ‘Praise.’ ¹⁹To thee no more is the sun for a light by day, And for brightness the moon giveth not light to thee, And Jehovah hath become to thee A light age-during, and thy God thy beauty. ²⁰Thy sun goeth no more in, And thy moon is not removed, For Jehovah becometh to thee a light age-during. And the days of thy mourning have been completed. ²¹And thy people are all of them righteous, To the age they possess the earth, A branch of My planting, A work of My hands, to be beautified. ²²The little one doth become a chief, And the small one a mighty nation, I, Jehovah, in its own time do hasten it!

Chapter 61