Separated from God
1 Behold, theLord’s hand is notshortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hiddenHisface from you,
# So that He willnot hear.
3 Foryour hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4 No one calls for justice,
Nor doesanyplead for truth.
# They trust inempty words and speak lies;
# They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
Andfromthat which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6 Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their worksareworks of iniquity,
And the act of violenceisin their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
# And they make haste to shedinnocent blood;
# Their thoughtsarethoughts of iniquity;
# Wasting anddestructionarein their paths.
8 The way ofpeace they have not known,
Andthereisno justice in their ways;
# They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
Sin Confessed
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
# We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness,butwe walk in blackness!
10 We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as ifwehadno eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
Weareas deadmenin desolate places.
11 We all growl like bears,
# Andmoan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, butthereisnone;
For salvation,butit is far from us.
12 For ourtransgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressionsarewith us,
Andasforour iniquities, we know them:
13 In transgressing and lying against theLord,
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
# Conceiving and utteringfrom the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
15 So truth fails,
# And hewhodeparts from evil makes himself aprey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then theLordsawit,and it displeased Him
Thattherewasno justice.
16 He saw thattherewasno man,
# Andwondered thattherewasno intercessor;
# Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According totheirdeeds, accordingly He will repay,
Fury to His adversaries,
Recompense to His enemies;
The coastlands He will fully repay.
19 So shall they fear
The name of theLordfrom the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
# When the enemy comes inlike a flood,
The Spirit of theLordwill lift up a standard against him.
20 “TheRedeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”
Says theLord.
21 “Asfor Me,” says theLord, “thisisMy covenant with them: My Spirit whoisupon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says theLord, “from this time and forevermore.”