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 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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.'
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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.
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Cross References
Job 8:14
Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider's web.
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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.
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Cross References
Proverbs 6:17
A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood.
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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.
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Cross References
Romans 3:16
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
Romans 3:17
And the way of peace they have not known.
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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."
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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.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 8:15
We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.