The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 59

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 59

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with guilt; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has uttered wickedness.

4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads truthfully. They trust in worthless idols and speak lies; they conceive trouble and bring forth evil.

5 They hatch viper’s eggs and weave spider webs; whoever eats their eggs will die, and when they are crushed, a viper hatches from them.

6 Their webs are not fit for clothing, nor can they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; destruction and ruin are in their paths.

8 They do not know the way of peace, nor is there justice in their steps; they have made their paths crooked for themselves; whoever walks in them does not know peace.

9 Therefore, justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we look for light, but behold, there is only darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10 We grope along the wall like the blind; yes, like those who have no eyes we grope; we stumble at midday as in the twilight, and in dark places we are like the dead.

11 We all growl like bears, and moan continually like doves; we look for justice, but it does not come; for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities;

13 How we have transgressed and lied against the Lord, and have turned away from our God, speaking of oppression and rebellion, conceiving and uttering from our hearts words of falsehood.

14 Therefore justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has stumbled in the streets, and equity cannot enter.

15 Yes, truth fails, and he who turns away from evil makes himself plundered; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his own arm brought him salvation, and his own righteousness sustained him.

17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

18 According to their deeds, so shall his recompense be: wrath to his adversaries, and recompense to his enemies; to the islands he shall give their recompense.

19 Then shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

20 And a Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn away from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. 

21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” declares the Lord: “My Spirit, who is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of their descendants,” declares the Lord, “from now on and forever.”