Chapter 59

Separation from God

1 Behold, athe Lord’s hand is not so short

That it cannot save;

bNor is His ear so dull

That it cannot hear.

2 But your ainiquities have made a separation between you and your God,

And your sins have hidden His 1face from you so that He does bnot hear.

3 For your ahands are defiled with blood

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken bfalsehood,

Your tongue mutters wickedness.

4 aNo one sues righteously and bno one pleads 1honestly.

They ctrust in confusion and speak lies;

They dconceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch adders’ eggs and aweave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.

6 Their webs will not become clothing,

Nor will they acover themselves with their works;

Their bworks are works of iniquity,

And an cact of violence is in their 1hands.

7 aTheir feet run to evil,

And they hasten to shed innocent blood;

bTheir thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,

Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

8 They do not know the away of peace,

And there is bno justice in their tracks;

They have made their paths crooked,

cWhoever treads on 1them does not know peace.

A Confession of Wickedness

9 Therefore ajustice is far from us,

And righteousness does not overtake us;

We bhope for light, but behold, darkness,

For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10 We agrope along the wall like blind men,

We grope like those who have no eyes;

We bstumble at midday as in the twilight,

Among those who are vigorous we are clike dead men.

11 All of us growl like bears,

And amoan sadly like doves;

We hope for bjustice, but there is none,

For salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our atransgressions are multiplied before You,

And our bsins 1testify against us;

For our transgressions are with us,

And 2we know our iniquities:

13 Transgressing and adenying the Lord,

And turning away from our God,

Speaking boppression and revolt,

Conceiving in and cuttering from the heart lying words.

14 aJustice is turned back,

And brighteousness stands far away;

For truth has stumbled in the street,

And uprightness cannot enter.

15 Yes, truth is lacking;

And he who turns aside from evil amakes himself a prey.

Now the Lord saw,

And it was 1displeasing in His sight bthat there was no justice.

16 And He saw that there was ano man,

And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;

Then His bown arm brought salvation to Him,

And His righteousness upheld Him.

17 He put on arighteousness like a breastplate,

And a bhelmet of salvation on His head;

And He put on cgarments of vengeance for clothing

And wrapped Himself with dzeal as a mantle.

18 aAccording to their 1deeds, 2so He will repay,

Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;

To the coastlands He will 3make recompense.

19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the awest

And His glory from the brising of the sun,

For He will ccome like a 1rushing stream

Which the wind of the Lord drives.

20 “A aRedeemer will come to Zion,

And to those who bturn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the Lord.

21 “As for Me, this is My acovenant with them,” says the Lord: “My bSpirit which is upon you, and My cwords which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your 1offspring, nor from the mouth of your 1offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”