59:1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
59:2 But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His ①face from you so that He does not hear.
▷ ①As in ancient versions; MT faces
59:3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with wrongdoing;
Your lips have spoken deceit,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
59:4 No one sues righteously and no one pleads ①honestly.
They trust in confusion and speak lies;
They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
▷ ①Lit in truth
59:5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
The one who eats of their eggs dies,
And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.
59:6 Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of wrongdoing,
And an act of violence is in their ①hands.
▷ ①Lit palms
59:7 Their feet run to evil,
And they hurry to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing,
Devastation and destruction are in their paths.
59:8 They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
Whoever walks on ①them does not know peace.
▷ ①Lit it
59:9 Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not reach us;
We hope for light, but there is darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
59:10 We grope for the wall like people who are blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are like the dead.
59:11 All of us growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
59:12 For our wrongful acts have multiplied before You,
And our sins have testified against us;
For our wrongful acts are with us,
And ①we know our wrongdoings:
▷ ①Lit our wrongdoings we know them
59:13 ①Offending and denying the LORD,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
▷ ①Or Revolting against and
59:14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
59:15 Truth is lacking,
And one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the LORD saw,
And it was ①displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
▷ ①Or evil
59:16 And He saw that there was no one,
And was amazed that there was not one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
59:17 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 wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak.
59:18 According to their deeds, ①so will He repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, ②retribution to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will ③deal ④retribution.
▷ ①Lit accordingly ②Lit requital ③Lit repay ④Lit requital
59:19 So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a ①rushing stream
Which the wind of the LORD drives.
▷ ①Lit narrow
59:20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing,” declares the LORD.
59:21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is upon you, and My words 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 ②offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”
▷ ①Lit seed ②Lit seed