Isaiah 59

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 700 BC – 500 BC · Exile in Babylon · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

21 verses · 556 words · ~3 min read · ~4 min listen

Sin Separates Us from God

Psalms 14:1–7; Psalms 53:1–6; Romans 3:9–20

¹Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,

nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But 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.

³For your hands are stained with blood,

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies,

and your tongue mutters injustice.

⁴No 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.

⁵They hatch the eggs of vipers

and weave a spiderʼs web.

Whoever eats their eggs will die;

crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their 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.

⁷Their feet run to evil;

they are swift to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;

ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

⁸The 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.

⁹Therefore 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.

¹⁰Like 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.

¹¹We all growl like bears

and moan like doves.

We hope for justice, but find none,

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You,

and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions are indeed with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³rebelling and denying the Lord,

turning away from our God,

speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.

¹⁴So justice is turned away,

and righteousness stands at a distance.

For truth has stumbled in the public square,

and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing,

and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.

¹⁶He 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.

¹⁷He 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

¹⁸So He will repay according to their deeds:

fury to His enemies,

retribution to His foes,

and recompense to the islands.

¹⁹So 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.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,”

declares the Lord.

²¹“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.

Footnotes (8)

a v7 LXX misery
b v8 Cited in Romans 3:15–17
c v15 Hebrew and it was evil in His eyes
d v18 Or coastlands
e v19 Or When the enemy comes like a raging flood, the Spirit of the LORD will drive him back
f v20 LXX to remove godlessness from Jacob; cited in Romans 11:26
g v21 Cited in Romans 11:27
h v21 Literally My Spirit, who is upon you,

Study notes on this chapter · 2

QuotationLinked by the New Testament

There is no one righteous

In Romans 3 Paul assembles a chain of scriptural quotations from the Psalms and Isaiah to show that all, Jew and Gentile, are under sin. The chain opens with a line from Psalm 14 ('there is no one who does good') and Paul uses it to silence every mouth before God.

When: Psalms of David and Isaiah; Romans, c. AD 57.

Original passagePsalms 14:1–3Psalms 5:9Isaiah 59:7–8Psalms 36:1

Where the New Testament applies itRomans 3:9–20

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentDebated

All Israel will be saved

Paul says a hardening has come on part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles comes in, and that in this way 'all Israel will be saved', quoting Isaiah's promise of a Redeemer who comes to Zion. The meaning of 'all Israel' and 'in this way' is among the most disputed questions in Romans.

When: Isaiah, c. 700–540 BC; Romans, c. AD 57.

Original passageIsaiah 59:20–21Isaiah 27:9

Where the New Testament applies itRomans 11:25–27

Ways people read this (4)

A future large-scale turning of ethnic Israel to Christ, at or before his return.
The whole people of God, Jews and Gentiles together, are the 'Israel' that is saved.
The elect remnant of ethnic Israel gathered in throughout the age, in addition to the Gentiles.
The 'in this way' describes a process: Gentile inclusion provokes Israel to jealousy, and some Jews are continually saved.