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Isaiah 59:1-20

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Isaiah 59:1 is part of this passage.
1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. 2But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. 4No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. 5They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. 6Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. 7Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths. 8They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace. 9Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. 10We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men. 11We all roar like bears and moan sadly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us. 12For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: 13transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter. 15Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 16He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness sustained him. 17He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. 18According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate: wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. He will repay the islands their due. 19So they will fear the LORD’s name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the LORD’s breath drives. 20“A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says the LORD.

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Summary

This passage presents sin's barrier and the Redeemer and shows how the LORD addresses his people and the nations.

Interpretation

In Isaiah 59:1-20, Isaiah develops sin's barrier and the Redeemer. The unit's images and movement—especially behold, shortened, iniquities—belong to a prophetic argument rather than detached religious sayings. Isaiah speaks to people facing political threat, moral failure, exile, or hope, asking readers to see ordinary events under the authority of the LORD. Its contrasts keep judgment and promise in view.

Theologically, this passage shows that the LORD is not one power among many. He judges pride and empty worship, yet preserves a remnant, gathers the scattered, and makes a future where covenant faithfulness can flourish. Its language may be poetic or shaped by a particular oracle, but its moral center is clear: trust in God must join justice, humility, and attentive obedience. Hope never excuses oppression, and judgment is never the whole story.

Within Isaiah's larger book, this unit participates in movement from rebellion through purification toward restoration. Read it alongside the prophet's insistence that God cares for the poor, foreigner, afflicted, and integrity of worship. Christian readers can hear it in continuity with God's saving work in Christ and the Spirit while respecting its historical setting and promise to Israel. Canonical fulfillment deepens the text; it does not erase its first hearers.

For readers today, the passage invites a response shaped by sin's barrier and the Redeemer. Bring fear, ambition, grief, or guilt into God's presence instead of hiding behind appearances. Practice justice and mercy, receive hope without demanding an easy timetable, and let God's future correct powers that claim to be ultimate. Isaiah forms a people who remain faithful because the LORD is faithful across generations.

The unit therefore calls for discernment rather than slogan-making. Read its warning with humility, its promise with patience, and its vision of God with reverence. Faithful response may mean confession, waiting, resistance to unjust power, or practical care for a neighbor. In every case, the passage directs attention away from self-made security toward the covenant Lord who judges truly and restores generously.

Context

Isaiah 59 belongs to the prophetic collection's treatment of sin's barrier and the Redeemer.

Violence separates the people from God, but divine justice brings a Redeemer.

The WEB wording is retained; prophetic poetry uses images, royal language, and covenant motifs that should be read in literary setting.

Audience

Readers seeking faithful hope, honest repentance, justice, and confidence in the LORD amid judgment and restoration.

Themes

  • sin
  • justice
  • redemption

Related passages

Keywords

sin · justice · redemption · behold · shortened · iniquities · separated