Isaiah 59

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 weak 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 hide his face, 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. Your fingers are dirty with wrong. Your lips speak lies. Your tongue mutters unfair 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 asks for fair treatment. No one tells the truth about his case. They trust empty words and tell lies. They plan trouble, and trouble is what they make.

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 spider webs. Whoever eats one of the eggs dies. Crack one open, and a snake comes out.

NoteThe KJV word "cockatrice" is an old name for a poisonous snake.

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 clothes. Their work cannot cover them. What they do is wrong, and their hands are cruel.

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 do evil. They hurry to kill people who did nothing wrong. Their thoughts are bad 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. There is nothing fair in their steps. They have made their paths crooked. No one who walks there will find 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 fair treatment stays far from us. Doing right never reaches us. We wait for light, but it stays 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 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 fair treatment, 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, God. Our sins speak against us. Our wrongs are still with us, and we know them well.

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 turned against the LORD and lied to him. We walked away from our God. We spoke cruel and rebellious words. 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.

14Fair treatment is pushed away. Doing right stands far off. Truth has fallen down in the street. Honesty cannot even 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. Anyone who stops doing evil gets hunted like an animal. The LORD saw this. It made him unhappy that no one was fair.

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 was there. He was amazed that no one stepped in to speak up for the people. So his own arm brought rescue. His own goodness held him up.

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 armor over his chest. He put rescue on his head like a helmet. He wore punishment like clothes. He wrapped himself in a coat of burning desire to set things right.

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. Even the faraway lands across the sea will get what they earned.

Note"The islands" in the KJV means lands far away 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 will honor the LORD's name in the west. They will honor his glory in the east, where the sun comes up. When an enemy pours in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will raise a flag against him.

NoteA "standard" was a tall flag an army raised so its soldiers could see it and gather.

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

20The Redeemer will come to Zion, the city of Jerusalem. He comes to the people of Jacob's family who turn away from doing wrong. This is what the LORD says.

NoteA "Redeemer" is someone who pays what it costs to set his own family free.

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.

21The LORD says, "This is my promise to them. My Spirit is on you, and I put my words in your mouth. Those words will stay in your mouth. They will stay in the mouths of your children and your grandchildren. This is true from now on and forever," says the LORD.