Sin Separates Us from God
1 Listen! The arm of the Lord is not too short that it cannot save,
nor his ear dull that it cannot hear.
2 But your sins have separated you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with sin.
Your lips have spoken lies.
Your tongue utters perverse things.
4 No one sues for just causes,
and no one pleads for truth.
They trust in worthless pleas and speak lies.
They conceive trouble and give birth to sin.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web.
He who eats of their eggs dies,
and he who crushes the egg, hatches a snake.
6 Their webs will not become garments.
Their works will not cover them.
Their works are works of sin,
and in their hands are acts of violence.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they are quick to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of sin.
Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
8 They do not know the way of peace,
and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made crooked paths for themselves,
and whoever goes in them will not know peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but see darkness,
for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind.
Yes, we grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
11 We all roar like bears
and moan bitterly like doves.
We look 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.
Our transgressions are with us,
and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing and denying the Lord,
turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart, words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned away,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has fallen in the street,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw,
and was displeased that there was no justice.
Salvation is Only of God
16 He saw and was amazed that there was no one,
not one to intercede.
Therefore his own arm brought him salvation,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and was clad with zeal like a mantle.
18 According to their deeds,
he will repay as appropriate,
wrath to his adversaries,
repayment to his enemies;
he will repay even the islands their due.
19 So from east to west they will fear the name of the Lord,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come as a rushing stream,
driven by the breath of the Lord.
The Covenant of the Redeemer
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says the Lord.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from you, nor from your offspring, nor from your offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now to forever.”