Isaiah, 59

¹ Look! The hand of Jehovah is not too short to save, Nor is his ear too dull^*1 to hear.

² No, your own errors have separated you from your God. Your sins have made him hide his face from you, And he refuses to hear you.

³ For your palms are polluted with blood And your fingers with error. Your lips speak lies, and your tongue mutters unrighteousness.

⁴ No one calls out for righteousness, And no one goes to court in truthfulness. They trust in unreality^*1 and speak what is worthless. They conceive trouble and give birth to what is harmful.

⁵ They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake, And they weave the cobweb of a spider. Anyone who eats their eggs would die, And the egg that is crushed hatches a viper.

⁶ Their cobweb will not serve as a garment, Nor will they cover themselves with what they make. Their works are harmful, And deeds of violence are in their hands.

⁷ Their feet run to do evil, And they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are harmful thoughts; Ruin and misery are in their ways.

⁸ They have not known the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks. They make their roadways crooked; No one treading on them will know peace.

⁹ That is why justice is far away from us, And righteousness does not overtake us. We keep hoping for light, but look! there is darkness; For brightness, but we keep walking in gloom.

¹⁰ We grope for the wall like blind men; Like those without eyes we keep groping. We stumble at high noon as in evening darkness; Among the strong we are just like the dead.

¹¹ We all keep growling like bears And cooing mournfully like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far away from us.

¹² For our revolts are many before you; Each of our sins testifies against us. For our revolts are with us; We well know our errors.

¹³ We have transgressed and denied Jehovah; We have turned our backs on our God. We have spoken of oppression and revolt; We have conceived lies and muttered false words from the heart.

¹⁴ Justice is driven back, And righteousness stands far off; For truth^*1 has stumbled in the public square, And what is upright is unable to enter.

¹⁵ Truth^*1 has vanished, And anyone who turns away from bad is plundered. Jehovah saw this and was displeased,^*2 For there was no justice.

¹⁶ He saw that there was no man, And he was astonished that no one interceded, So his own arm brought about salvation,^*1 And his own righteousness supported him.

¹⁷ Then he put on righteousness like a coat of mail And the helmet of salvation^*1 on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance as his clothing And wrapped himself with zeal like a coat.^*2

¹⁸ He will reward them for what they have done: Wrath to his adversaries, retribution to his enemies. And to the islands he will repay their due.

¹⁹ From the sunset they will fear the name of Jehovah And from the sunrise his glory, For he will come in like a rushing river, Which the spirit of Jehovah drives along.

²⁰ “To Zion the Repurchaser will come, To those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares Jehovah.

²¹ “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Jehovah. “My spirit that is on you and my words that I have placed in your mouth—they will not be removed from your mouth, from the mouth of your children,^*1 or from the mouth of your grandchildren,”^*2 says Jehovah, “from now on and forever.”