Isaiah 59 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Evil and Oppression

Isa 59:1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

Isa 59:2but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.

Isa 59:3

Isa 59:3For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.

Isa 59:4

Isa 59:4No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Isa 59:5

Isa 59:5They hatch adders’ eggs;
they weave the spider’s web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.

Isa 59:6

Isa 59:6Their webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.

Isa 59:7

Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.

Isa 59:8

Isa 59:8The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
no one who treads on them knows peace.

Isa 59:9

Isa 59:9Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

Isa 59:10

Isa 59:10We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

Isa 59:11

Isa 59:11We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.

Isa 59:12

Isa 59:12For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:

Isa 59:13

Isa 59:13transgressing, and denying the LORD,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

Isa 59:14

Isa 59:14Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.

Isa 59:15

Isa 59:15Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him[fn]
that there was no justice.

Isa 59:16

Isa 59:16He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.

Isa 59:17

Isa 59:17He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

Isa 59:18

Isa 59:18According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render repayment.

Isa 59:19

Isa 59:19So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,[fn]
which the wind of the LORD drives.

Isa 59:20

Isa 59:20“And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.

Isa 59:21

Isa 59:21“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(59:15)

Hebrew and it was evil in his eyes

(59:19)

Hebrew a narrow river

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

Isaiah Chapter 59 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Isaiah 59 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Evil and Oppression

Judgment and Redemption

ESV Footnotes

Isaiah Chapter 59 — Additional Translations:

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