Isa 59 | NASB2020 | STEP | Behold , the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save ; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear .

Isaiah 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 ^cwrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His ^{▼▼As in ancient versions; MT faces}face from you so that He does ^enot hear.
3 For your ^fhands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with wrongdoing;
Your lips have spoken ^gdeceit,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 ^hNo one sues righteously and ⁱno one pleads ^{▼▼Lit in truth}honestly.
They ^ktrust in confusion and speak lies;
They ^lconceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and ^mweave the spider’s web;
The one who eats of their eggs dies,
And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.
6 Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they ⁿcover themselves with their works;
Their ^oworks are works of wrongdoing,
And an ^pact of violence is in their ^{▼▼Lit palms}hands.
7 ^rTheir feet run to evil,
And they hurry to shed innocent blood;
^sTheir thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing,
Devastation and destruction are in their paths.
8 They do not know the ^tway of peace,
And there is ^uno justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
^vWhoever walks on ^{▼▼Lit it}them does not know peace.

A Confession of Wickedness

9 Therefore ^xjustice is far from us,
And righteousness does not reach us;
We ^yhope for light, but there is darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We ^zgrope for the wall like people who are blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We ^aastumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are ^ablike the dead.
11 All of us growl like bears,
And ^acmoan sadly like doves;
We hope for ^adjustice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our ^aewrongful acts have multiplied before You,
And our ^afsins have testified against us;
For our wrongful acts are with us,
And ^{▼▼Lit our wrongdoings we know them}we know our wrongdoings:
13 ^{▼▼Or Revolting against and}Offending and ^aidenying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking ^ajoppression and revolt,
Conceiving and ^akuttering lying words from the heart.
14 ^alJustice is turned back,
And ^amrighteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
And one who turns aside from evil ^anmakes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was ^{▼▼Or evil}displeasing in His sight ^apthat there was no justice.
16 And He saw that there was ^aqno one,
And was amazed that there was not one to intercede;
Then His ^arown arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
17 He put on ^asrighteousness like a breastplate,
And a ^athelmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on ^augarments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with ^avzeal as a cloak.
18 ^awAccording to their deeds, ^{▼▼Lit accordingly}so will He repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, ^{▼▼Lit requital}retribution to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will ^{▼▼Lit repay}deal ^{▼▼Lit requital}retribution.
19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the ^bbwest
And His glory from the ^bcrising of the sun,
For He will ^bdcome like a ^{▼▼Lit narrow}rushing stream
Which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 “A ^bfRedeemer will come to Zion,
And to those in Jacob who ^bgturn from wrongdoing,” declares the Lord.
21 “As for Me, this is My ^bhcovenant with them,” says the Lord: “My ^biSpirit who is upon you, and My ^bjwords which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your ^{▼▼Lit seed}offspring, nor from the mouth of your ^{▼▼Lit seed}offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”