Chapter 59
Sin and Repentance
1 Truly the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor is his ear too dull to hear.
2 Rather, it is your iniquities that have been barriers
between you and your God.
Your sins have caused him to hide his face
so that he does not hear you.
3 For your hands are stained with blood
and your fingers with guilt.
Your lips utter lies
and your tongue mutters wicked things.
4 No one brings a suit justly
or pleads honestly in court.
They all rely on empty words and utter lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth evil.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs will die;
crush one and a viper emerges.
6 Their webs are useless for clothing;
what they make cannot serve to cover them.
Their works are deeds of evil,
and acts of violence flow from their hands.
7 Their feet rush headlong to do evil,
and they do not hesitate to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are those of iniquity;
their paths are marked by havoc and ruin.
8 They do not know the way of peace,
and justice is not seen along their paths.
The roads they follow are crooked,
and no one who travels on them knows any peace.
9 Therefore, justice is far removed from us,
and righteousness is far beyond our reach.
We look for light but behold only darkness,
for brightness but we walk in gloom.
10 Like blind men we grope along a wall,
feeling our way like those bereft of eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight;
in the midst of the strong we are like the dead.
11 All of us growl like bears;
like doves we continue to moan mournfully.
We wait for justice but receive none,
for deliverance but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions against you are numerous,
and our sins bear witness against us.
We are unable to forget our offenses,
and we are well aware of our iniquities:
13 our rebellion and our denial of the Lord
and our turning away from following him,
threatening acts of oppression and revolt,
and uttering lies conceived in our hearts.
14 Justice has been rebuffed
and righteousness stands at a distance.
For truth stumbles in the public square
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth has disappeared,
and those who turn from evil are terrorized.
Zion’s Redeemer Comes
When the Lord witnessed this, he was displeased
that justice had ceased to exist.
16 He saw that no help was in sight,
and he was outraged that no one sought to intervene.
Therefore, his own arm effected the victory,
with his righteousness as his support.
17 He put on justice like a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in a cloak of zeal.
18 He will repay his enemies
according to their deeds:
wrath to his adversaries,
retribution to his enemies;
he will render requital
to the islands and the coastlands.
19 And so those in the west will fear the name of the Lord,
and those in the east his glory.
He will come like a pent-up stream
that is driven by the breath of the Lord.
20 He will come as a redeemer to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who cease to rebel.
This is the word of the Lord.
21 As for me, says the Lord,
this is my covenant with them:
my Spirit which rests upon you
and my words that I have put into your mouth
will not depart from your mouth
or out of the mouths of your children,
or out of the mouths of your children’s children,
says the Lord, from now on and forevermore.