Rampant Transgression

59 Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short ⌊to save⌋,a

and his ear is not too dull ⌊to hear⌋.b

2 Rather, your iniquities have been ⌊barriers⌋c between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood,

and your fingers with iniquity.

Your lips have spoken lies,

your tongue speaks wickedness.

4 There is nobody ⌊who pleads with⌋d justice,

and there is nobody who judges with honesty.

They rely on nothing

and speak vanity.

They conceive trouble

and beget iniquity;

5 they hatch viper eggs,

and they weave a spider web.

One who eats their eggs dies,

and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent.

6 Their webs cannot become clothing,

and they cannot cover themselves with their works.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deedse of violence are in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil,

and they hasten to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

devastation and destruction are in their highways.

8 They do not know the way of peace,

and there is no justice in their firm paths.

They have made their paths crooked for themselves;

everyone ⌊who walks⌋f in it knows no peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not reach us.

We wait for light, butg look! there is darkness;

for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

10 We grope like the blind along a wall,

and we grope ⌊as without⌋h eyes.

We stumble at noon as in the twilight;

among the strong we are like the dead.

11 We all groan like bears,

and we coo mutteringly like doves.

We wait for justice, buti there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are numerous before you,

and our sins ⌊testify⌋j against us.

Indeed, our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

13 transgressing and denying Yahweh,

and turning ⌊away from following⌋k our God;

speaking oppression and falsehood,

conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.

14 And justice is pushed back,

and righteousness stands afar;

for truth stumbles in the public square,

and straightforwardness is unable to enter,

15 and truth is missing,

and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.

And Yahweh saw,

and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice

16 And he saw that there was no man,

and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes,

sol his arm came to assist him,

and his righteousness ⌊was what⌋m sustained him.

17 And he put on righteousness like a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head,

and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a robe.

18 According to deeds, so he will repay;

wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his ⌊enemies⌋.n

He will repay requital to the coastlands.

19 Soo they shall fear the name of Yahweh from the west,

and his glory from the sunrise,

for he will come like a narrow stream;

the wind of Yahweh drives it on.

20 “And a redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,”

⌊declares⌋p Yahweh.

21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh:

my spirit that is upon you,

and my words that I have placed in your mouth

shall not depart from your mouth,

orq from the mouthsr of your ⌊children⌋,s

ort from the mouthsu of ⌊your children’s children⌋,”v

says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”