Isaiah 59
59 1Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2but your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3For your hands are defiled with blood, and
your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue muttereth
wickedness.
4None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth:
they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth
iniquity.
5They hatch adders' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that
eateth of their eggs dieth; and that which is crushed breaketh out into a
viper.
6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover
themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act
of violence is in their hands.
7Their feet run to evil, and they make
haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their paths.
8The way of peace they
know not; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them
crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein doth not know peace.
9Therefore is
justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for
light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have
no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty
we are as dead men.
11We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves:
we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from
us.
12For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins
testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our
iniquities, we know them:
13transgressing and denying Jehovah, and
turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14And justice
is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is
fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.
15Yea, truth is
lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And Jehovah
saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16And he saw
that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore
his own arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it upheld him.
17And he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation
upon his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad
with zeal as a mantle.
18According to their deeds, accordingly he will
repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he
will repay recompense.
19So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the
west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing
stream, which the breath of Jehovah driveth.
20And a Redeemer will come
to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith Jehovah.
21And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith Jehovah: my Spirit
that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not
depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the
mouth of thy seed's seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever.