Isaiah 59

Evil and Oppression

1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not a shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will b not hear.
3 For c your hands are defiled with 1 blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in d empty words and speak lies;
e They conceive 2 evil and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6 f Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7 g Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed h innocent blood;
i Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and j destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of k peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
l They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
m We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
10 n We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.
11 We all growl like bears,
And o moan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our p transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD,
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering q from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.

Judgment and Redemption

15 So truth fails,
And he who departs from evil makes himself a r prey.
Then the LORD saw it, and 3 it displeased Him
That there was no justice.
16 s He saw that there was no man,
And t wondered that there was no intercessor;
u Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
17 v For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 w According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay,
Fury to His adversaries,
Recompense to His enemies;
The coastlands He will fully repay.
19 x So shall they fear
The name of the LORD from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in y like a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.

20 "The z Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,"
Says the LORD.

21 "As a for Me," says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: 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 descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore."

  1. Cross References
    Numbers 11:23
    And the LORD said to Moses, "Has the LORD's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.
    Isaiah 50:2
    Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, And die of thirst.
    Jeremiah 32:17
    Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:15
    When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:15
    When you spread out your hands, I will hide My ...
    Isaiah 1:21
    How the faithful city has become a harlot! It w...
    Jeremiah 2:30
    In vain I have chastened your children; They re...
    Jeremiah 2:34
    Also on your skirts is found The blood of the l...
    Ezekiel 7:23
    Make a chain, For the land is filled with crime...
    Hosea 4:2
    By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and...
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:12
    Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: "Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them.
    Jeremiah 7:4
    "Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'
  5. Cross References
    Job 15:35
    They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit.
    Psalms 7:14
    Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
    Isaiah 33:11
    You shall conceive chaff, You shall bring forth stubble; Your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
  6. Cross References
    Job 8:14
    Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider's web.
  7. Cross References
    Proverbs 1:16
    For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.
    Romans 3:15
    Their feet are swift to shed blood.
  8. Cross References
    Proverbs 6:17
    A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 55:7
    Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
  10. Cross References
    Romans 3:16
    Destruction and misery are in their ways.
    Romans 3:17
    And the way of peace they have not known.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 57:20
    But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
    Isaiah 57:21
    "There is no peace," Says my God, "for the wicked."
  12. Cross References
    Psalms 125:5
    As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, The LORD shall lead them away With the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!
    Proverbs 2:15
    Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:15
    We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
  14. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:29
    And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
    Job 5:14
    They meet with darkness in the daytime, And grope at noontime as in the night.
    Amos 8:9
    And it shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight.
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 38:14
    Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed; Undertake for me!
    Ezekiel 7:16
    Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity.
  16. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:5
    The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant.
    Isaiah 58:1
    Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.
  17. Cross References
    Matthew 12:34
    Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
  18. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:23
    Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man!
    Isaiah 10:2
    To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless.
    Isaiah 29:21
    Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.
    Isaiah 32:7
    Also the schemes of the schemer are evil; He devises wicked plans To destroy the poor with lying words, Even when the needy speaks justice.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 41:28
    For I looked, and there was no man; I looked among them, but there was no counselor, Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
    Isaiah 63:5
    I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me.
    Isaiah 64:7
    And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
    Ezekiel 22:30
    So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
  20. Cross References
    Mark 6:6
    And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 98:1
    Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
    Isaiah 63:5
    I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me.
  22. Cross References
    Ephesians 6:14
    Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
    Ephesians 6:17
    And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
    1 Thessalonians 5:8
    But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
  23. Cross References
    Isaiah 63:6
    I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.
    Romans 2:6
    Who "will render to each one according to his deeds":
  24. Cross References
    Psalms 113:3
    From the rising of the sun to its going down The LORD's name is to be praised.
    Malachi 1:11
    For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations," Says the LORD of hosts.
  25. Cross References
    Revelation 12:15
    So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
  26. Cross References
    Romans 11:26
    And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
  27. Cross References
    Hebrews 8:10
    For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
    Hebrews 10:16
    "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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