Chapter 59

Sin Separates Us from God

Psalms 14:1–7; Psalms 53:1–6; Romans 3:9–20

¹Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,

nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But your iniquities have built barriers

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden His face from you,

so that He does not hear.

³For your hands are stained with blood,

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies,

and your tongue mutters injustice.

⁴No one calls for justice;

no one pleads his case honestly.

They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies;

they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch the eggs of vipers

and weave a spider’s web.

Whoever eats their eggs will die;

crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing,

and they cannot cover themselves with their works.

Their deeds are sinful deeds,

and acts of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil;

they are swift to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;

ruin and destruction^a lie in their wake.

⁸The way of peace they have not known,^b

and there is no justice in their tracks.

They have turned them into crooked paths;

no one who treads on them will know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not reach us.

We hope for light, but there is darkness;

for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall,

groping like those without eyes.

We stumble at midday as in the twilight;

among the vigorous we are like the dead.

¹¹We all growl like bears

and moan like doves.

We hope for justice, but find none,

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You,

and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions are indeed with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³rebelling and denying the LORD,

turning away from our God,

speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.

¹⁴So justice is turned away,

and righteousness stands at a distance.

For truth has stumbled in the public square,

and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing,

and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.

The LORD looked and was displeased^c

that there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man;

He was amazed that there was no one to intercede.

So His own arm brought salvation,

and His own righteousness sustained Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate,

and the helmet of salvation on His head;

He put on garments of vengeance

and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

The Covenant of the Redeemer

¹⁸So He will repay according to their deeds:

fury to His enemies,

retribution to His foes,

and recompense to the islands.^d

¹⁹So shall they fear the name of the LORD

where the sun sets,

and His glory where it rises.

For He will come like a raging flood,

driven by the breath of the LORD.^e

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,^f”

declares the LORD.

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,”^g says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you,^h and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.