Isaiah 59
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 59Written by AI
The LORD's arm is not too short to save. The problem is the people's sins, which have separated them from God. The chapter names lies, violence and injustice, and then the people confess them. Notice God putting on righteousness like armor, a picture Paul borrows in Ephesians, and the promise that the Redeemer will come to Zion.
Sin Separates Us from God
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor His ear too dull to hear.
But 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.
For your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongue mutters injustice.
No 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.
They 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.
Their 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.
Their feet run to evil;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;
ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
The way of peace they have not known,
and there is no justice in their tracks.
They have turned them into crooked paths;
no one who treads on them will know peace.
Therefore 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.
Like 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.
We all growl like bears
and moan like doves.
We hope for justice, but find none,
for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions are indeed with us,
and we know our iniquities:
rebelling and denying the LORD,
turning away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
So justice is turned away,
and righteousness stands at a distance.
For truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty cannot enter.
Truth is missing,
and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
He 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.
He 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
So He will repay according to their deeds:
fury to His enemies,
retribution to His foes,
and recompense to the islands.
So 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.
“The Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,”
declares the LORD.
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, 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.