Text -- Isaiah 59:1-8 (NET)

Injustice Brings Alienation from God

59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you. 59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. 59:3 For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words. 59:4 No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin. 59:5 They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, a poisonous snake is hatched. 59:6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes. 59:7 They are eager to do evil, quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy. 59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 59:1

¹ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

² tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”

NET Notes: Isa 59:2

¹ tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”

NET Notes: Isa 59:4

¹ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

² tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

³ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

NET Notes: Isa 59:5

¹ tn Heb “that which is pressed in hatches [as] a snake.”

NET Notes: Isa 59:6

¹ tn Heb “their deeds are deeds of sin, and the work of violence [is] in their hands.”

NET Notes: Isa 59:7

¹ tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”

² tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”

³ tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”

NET Notes: Isa 59:8

¹ tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”

² tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”