Isaiah 59

1 Behold, the hand of the Lord has not been shortened, so that it cannot save, and his ear has not been blocked, so that it cannot hear.

Has the hand of the Lord no power to save? or has he made his ear heavy, so that he should not hear?

2 But your iniquities have made a division between you and your God, and your sins have concealed his face from you, so that he would not hear.

Nay, your iniquities separate between you and God, and because of your sins has he turned away [his] face from you, so as not to have mercy [upon you].

3 For your hands have been polluted by blood, and your fingers by iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue utters iniquity.

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins; your lips also have spoken iniquity, and your tongue meditates unrighteousness.

4 There is no one who calls for justice, and there is no one who judges truly. For they trust in nothing, and they speak emptiness. They have conceived hardship, and they have given birth to iniquity.

None speaks justly, neither is there true judgment: they trust in vanities, and speak empty [words]; for they conceive trouble, and bring forth iniquity.

5 They have ruptured the eggs of asps, and they have woven the webs of spiders. Whoever will eat of their eggs will die. For what has been incubated will hatch into a king snake.

They have hatched asps' eggs, and weave a spider's web: and he that is going to eat of their eggs, having crushed an addled egg, has found also in it a basilisk.

6 Their weavings will not be for clothing, nor will they cover themselves with their handiwork. Their works are useless things, and the work of iniquity is in their hands.

Their web shall not become a garment, nor shall they at all clothe themselves with their works; for their works are works of iniquity.

7 Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are useless thoughts; devastation and destruction are in their ways.

And their feet run to wickedness, swift to shed blood; their thoughts also are thoughts of murder; destruction and misery are in their ways;

8 They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their steps. Their paths have become crooked for them. Anyone who treads in them knows no peace.

and the way of peace they know not, neither is there judgment in their ways; for their paths by which they go are crooked, and they know not peace.

9 Because of this, judgment is far from us, and justice will not take hold of us. We waited for light, and behold, darkness; we waited for brightness, and we walked in darkness.

Therefore has judgment departed from them, and righteousness shall not overtake them: while they waited for light, darkness came upon them; while they waited for brightness, they walked in perplexity.

10 We groped for the wall, like one who is blind, and we felt our way, like one without eyes. We stumbled at midday, as if in darkness; and in darkness, as if in death.

They shall feel for the wall as blind [men], and shall feel [for it] as if they had no eyes: and they shall feel at noon-day as at midnight; they shall groan as dying men.

11 We will all roar like bears, and we will sigh like despondent doves. We hoped for judgment, and there is none; for salvation, and it is far from us.

They shall proceed together as a bear and as a dove: we have waited for judgment, and there is no salvation, it is gone far from us.

12 For our iniquities have been multiplied in your sight, and our sins have answered us. For our wickedness is with us, and we have acknowledged our iniquities:

For our iniquity is great before thee, and our sins have risen up against us: for our iniquities are in us, and we know our unrighteous deeds.

13 sinning and lying against the Lord. And we have turned away, not so as to go after our God, and so that we were speaking calumny and transgression. We have conceived, and spoken from the heart, words of falsehood.

We have sinned, and dealt falsely, and revolted from our God: we have spoken unrighteous words, and have been disobedient; we have conceived and uttered from our heart unrighteous words.

14 And judgment has been turned backwards, and justice has stood far away. For truth has fallen down in the street, and fairness was not able to enter.

And we have turned judgment back, and righteousness has departed afar off: for truth is consumed in their ways, and they could not pass by a straight [path].

15 And the truth has gone into oblivion. And he who withdraws from evil endures plunder. And the Lord saw this, and it seemed evil in his eyes. For there is no judgment.

And truth has been taken away, and they have turned aside [their] mind from understanding. And the Lord saw it, and it pleased him not that there was no judgment.

16 And he saw that there was no good man. And he was astonished that there was no one to meet him. And his own arm brought salvation to him, and his own justice strengthened him.

And he looked, and there was no man, and he observed, and there was none to help: so he defended them with his arm, and stablished [them] with [his] mercy.

17 He clothed himself with justice as with a breastplate, and with a helmet of salvation upon his head. He put on the vestments of vengeance, and he was covered with zeal as with a cloak.

And he put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and placed the helmet of salvation on his head; and he clothed himself with the garment of vengeance, and with his cloak,

18 This was for vindication, as a repayment of indignation to his adversaries, and as a sudden reversal for his enemies. He will repay the islands in their turn.

as one about to render a recompence, [even] reproach to his adversaries.

19 And those from the west will fear the name of the Lord, and those from the rising of the sun will fear his glory, when he arrives like a violent river, which the Spirit of the Lord urges on.

So shall they of the west fear the name of the Lord, and they [that come] from the rising of the sun his glorious name: for the wrath of the Lord shall come as a mighty river, it shall come with fury.

20 And the Redeemer will arrive in Zion, and to those who return from the iniquity within Jacob, says the Lord.

And the deliverer shall come for Sion's sake, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

21 This is my pact with them, says the Lord. My Spirit is within you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth, will not withdraw from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, says the Lord, from this moment, and even forever.

And this shall be my covenant with them, said the Lord; My Spirit which is upon thee, and the words which I have put in thy mouth, shall never fail from thy mouth, nor from the mouth of thy seed, for the Lord has spoken it, henceforth and for ever.