1
Behold,bch. 50:2; Num. 11:23 the Lord 's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 cJer. 5:25 but 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.
3 dch. 1:15 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 e[ver. 14] No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
fJob 15:35; Ps. 7:14 they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5 They 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.
6 gJob 8:14 Their 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.
7 hProv. 1:16; Cited Rom. 3:15-17 Their 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.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
ich. 48:22; 57:21 no one who treads on them knows peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
j[ver. 11; ch. 60:2] we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 kDeut. 28:29; Job 5:14; 12:25; See ch. 42:18-20 We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
l[1 Cor. 4:9, 10] among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears;
mch. 38:14 we moan and moan like doves;
n[ver. 9; ch. 46:13; 56:1] we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
o[ver. 3, 4] speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 p[ch. 51:4, 5] Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands afar off;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
16 q[ch. 51:18; 63:5] He 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.
17 r1 Thess. 5:8; See Eph. 6:13-17 He 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 ins[ch. 9:7] zeal as a cloak.
18 tch. 63:4, 6 According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
u[ch. 41:1, 5] to the coastlands he will render repayment.
19 v[Ps. 113:3] So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
w[ch. 30:27, 28] for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 xCited Rom. 11:26, 27; [ch. 40:9; Joel 2:32] “Andych. 43:14 a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, ” declares the Lord.
21 “And as for me,zJer. 31:31; Heb. 8:10; 10:16 this is my covenant with them, ” says the Lord : “My Spirit that is upon you,ach. 51:16; [Deut. 4:10] 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. ”