1 Truly, the Lord's hand has not become short, so that he is unable to give salvation; and his ear is not shut from hearing: 2 But your sins have come between you and your God, and by your evil doings his face has been veiled from you, so that he will give you no answer. 3 For your hands are unclean with blood, and your fingers with sin; your lips have said false things, and your tongue gives out deceit. 4 No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil. 5 They give birth to snake's eggs, and make spider's threads: whoever takes their eggs for food comes to his death, and the egg which is crushed becomes a poison-snake. 6 Their twisted threads will not make clothing, and their works will give them nothing for covering themselves: their works are works of sin, and violent acts are in their hands. 7 Their feet go quickly to evil, and they take delight in the death of the upright; their thoughts are thoughts of sin; wasting and destruction are in their ways. 8 They have no knowledge of the way of peace, and there is no sense of what is right in their behaviour: they have made for themselves ways which are not straight; whoever goes in them has no knowledge of peace. 9 For this cause our right is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us: we are looking for light, but there is only the dark; for the shining of the sun, but our way is in the night. 10 We go on our way, like blind men feeling for the wall, even like those who have no eyes: we are running against things in daylight as if it was evening; our place is in the dark like dead men. 11 We make noises of grief, like bears, and sad sounds like doves: we are looking for our right, but it is not there; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our evil doings are increased before you, and our sins give witness against us: for our evil doings are with us, and we have knowledge of our sins: 13 We have gone against the Lord, and been false to him, turning away from our God, our words have been uncontrolled, and in our hearts are thoughts of deceit. 14 And the right is turned back, and righteousness is far away: for good faith is not to be seen in the public places, and upright behaviour may not come into the town. 15 Yes, faith is gone; and he whose heart is turned from evil comes into the power of the cruel: and the Lord saw it, and he was angry that there was no one to take up their cause. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and was surprised that there was no one to take up their cause: so his arm gave salvation, and he made righteousness his support. 17 Yes, he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and salvation as a head-dress; and he put on punishment as clothing, and wrath as a robe. 18 He will give them the right reward of their doings, wrath to his attackers, punishment to his haters, and even on the sea-lands he will send punishment. 19 So they will see the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the east: for he will come like a rushing stream, forced on by a wind of the Lord. 20 And as a saviour he will come to Zion, turning away sin from Jacob, says the Lord. 21 And as for me, this is my agreement with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not go away from your mouth, or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord, from now and for ever.
Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 59 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 32:17; Isaiah 50:2; Numbers 11:23; Isaiah 65:24; Genesis 18:14
- 2 Proverbs 15:29; Jeremiah 5:25; Micah 3:4; Isaiah 1:15; Deuteronomy 31:17–18
- 3 Isaiah 1:15; Ezekiel 13:8; Jeremiah 2:34; Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:30
- 4 Job 15:35; Micah 7:2–5; James 1:15; Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 7:8
- 5 Matthew 3:7; Isaiah 14:29; Proverbs 23:32; Matthew 12:34; Job 8:14
- 6 Jeremiah 6:7; Revelation 3:17–18; Isaiah 57:12; Job 8:14–15; Habakkuk 1:2–4
- 7 Romans 3:15–17; Proverbs 6:17; Mark 7:21–22; Proverbs 1:16; Lamentations 4:13
- 8 Isaiah 57:20–21; Romans 3:17; Isaiah 5:7; Luke 1:79; Psalm 58:1–2
- 9 Isaiah 5:30; Job 30:26; Micah 1:12; Jeremiah 14:19; Lamentations 5:16–17
- 10 Deuteronomy 28:29; Job 5:14; Lamentations 3:6; John 12:40; Proverbs 4:19
- 11 Isaiah 38:14; Ezekiel 7:16; Isaiah 59:9; Jeremiah 9:1; Psalm 85:9
- 12 Ezra 9:6; Hosea 5:5; Jeremiah 14:7; Ezekiel 5:6; Hosea 4:2
- 13 Mark 7:21–22; James 3:6; Hebrews 3:12; Isaiah 5:7; Isaiah 48:8
- 14 Ecclesiastes 3:16; Habakkuk 1:4; Micah 3:9–11; Jeremiah 5:31; Isaiah 5:23
- 15 Micah 7:2; Hebrews 11:36–38; Jeremiah 7:28; 1 John 3:11–12; Romans 8:36
- 16 Ezekiel 22:30; Isaiah 64:7; Psalm 106:23; Psalm 98:1; Isaiah 63:3–5
- 17 Ephesians 6:17; Ephesians 6:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Romans 13:12–14; Isaiah 11:5
- 18 Jeremiah 17:10; Isaiah 63:6; Romans 2:6; Matthew 16:27; Nahum 1:2
- 19 Daniel 7:27; Psalm 113:3; Zechariah 4:6; Revelation 12:15–17; Psalm 22:27
- 20 Romans 11:26–27; Titus 2:11–14; Ezekiel 18:30–31; Acts 3:19; Hebrews 12:14
- 21 Jeremiah 31:31–34; Hebrews 10:16; Ezekiel 36:25–27; Jeremiah 32:38–41; Hebrews 8:6–13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For while they remain, there remains in some sort enmity against God, and alienation from Him, which comes from what is evil in us; since Scripture does not speak falsely, which says, "Your sins separate between you and God." He does not then bestow on us His good things, except He take away our evil things.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
And again, I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed; and again, And now the Lord Almighty and His Spirit hath sent Me; and again, This is My covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit which is upon thee; and again, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me, and the rest; and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… Gentiles might enter in," in that other should happen what follows, "and so all Israel should be saved." For the Apostle too takes that testimony of Isaiah, where it is said, "There shall come out of Sion He who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:" for the Jews, as it is here, "Who shall give salvation to Israel out of …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
"Our years are passed in thought like a spider." We were labouring in things corruptible, corruptible works were we weaving together: which, as the Prophet Isaiah saith, by no means covered us. "The days of our years are in themselves," etc.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)