Isaiah

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

1Look: the LORD's arm is not too short to save. His ear is not too dull to hear.

2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

2But your sins have built a wall between you and your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so he does not listen.

3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

3Your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with wrong. Your lips have told lies. Your tongue mutters twisted things.

4None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

4No one calls for a fair trial. No one argues his case honestly. They trust empty words and tell lies. They plan trouble and give birth to evil.

5They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

5They hatch snake eggs and weave spiderwebs. Whoever eats one of the eggs dies. Crush one open, and a viper comes out.

NoteThe KJV says "cockatrice," an old English word for a deadly legendary snake. The Hebrew word means a poisonous snake, so "viper" or "snake" is the sense here.

6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

6Their webs cannot be made into clothing. They cannot cover themselves with the things they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and violence is in their hands.

7Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

7Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to kill people who did nothing wrong. Their thoughts are evil thoughts. They leave ruin and wreckage behind them.

8The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

8They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice on the paths they walk. They have made their roads crooked. No one who walks there will know peace.

9Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

9So justice stays far from us, and fairness never catches up to us. We wait for light, but there is only dark. We hope for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

10We feel along the wall like blind people. We grope as if we had no eyes. At noon we stumble as if it were night. Among strong, living people we are like the dead.

11We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

11We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We look for justice, but there is none. We look for rescue, but it stays far away.

12For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;

12Our wrongs pile up in front of you, and our sins speak against us. Our wrongs stay with us, and we know exactly what we have done.

13In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

13We have rebelled and lied against the LORD, and we have turned away from our God. We have talked about crushing others and turning against him. We made up lies in our hearts and said them out loud.

14And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

14So justice is pushed back, and fairness stands far off. Truth has fallen down in the street, and honesty cannot get in.

15Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

15Truth is missing, and anyone who quits doing evil gets attacked. The LORD saw this, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

16And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

16He saw that no one stepped forward. He was amazed that no one came to speak up for the people. So his own arm brought rescue, and his own goodness held him steady.

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

17He put on doing-right like a breastplate, and a helmet of rescue on his head. He put on clothes of payback, and wrapped himself in burning zeal like a coat.

18According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

18He will pay people back for what they did: anger for those who fight him, payback for his enemies, payback for the lands across the sea.

19So 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.

19Then people in the west will fear the LORD's name, and people in the east will fear his glory. When the enemy pours in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will raise a battle flag against him.

NoteA "standard" was a tall flag an army raised so its soldiers could see where to gather and fight. The Hebrew of this verse can also be read as God himself sweeping in like a rushing river, which is how some modern translations render it.

20And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.

20"The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn away from their sins," says the LORD.

NoteA "redeemer" was a close relative whose job was to pay whatever it cost to buy back a family member out of slavery, or to buy back land the family had lost.

21As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

21"As for me, this is my agreement with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit is on you, and I have put my words in your mouth. Those words will not leave your mouth. They will stay in the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forever," says the LORD.