Isaiah

No, GOD’s arm is not too short to save,Or ear too dull to hear;

But your iniquities have been a barrierBetween you and your God—Your sins have turned the divine face awayIn refusal to hear you.

For your hands are defiled with crimeacrime Or “blood.” And your fingers with iniquity.Your lips speak falsehood,Your tongue utters treachery.

No one sues justlyOr pleads honestly;They rely on emptiness and speak falsehood,Conceiving wrong and begetting evil.

They hatch adder’s eggsAnd weave spider webs;Whoever eats of those eggs will die,And if one is crushed, it hatches out a viper.

Their webs will not serve as a garment,What they make cannot serve as clothing;Their deeds are deeds of mischief,Their hands commit lawless acts,

Their feet run after evil,They hasten to shed the blood of the innocent.Their plans are plans of mischief,Destructiveness and injury are on their roads.

They do not care for the way of integrity,There is no justice on their paths.They make their courses crooked,No one who walks in them cares for integrity.

“That is why redress is far from us,And vindication does not reach us.We hope for light, and lo! there is darkness;For a gleam, and we must walk in gloom.

We grope, like the blind along a wall;Like those without eyes we grope.We stumble at noon, as if in darkness;Among the sturdy, we arebAmong the sturdy, we are Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “In the daytime…” like the dead.

We all growl like bearsAnd moan like doves.We hope for redress, and there is none;For victory, and it is far from us.

For our many sins are before You,Our guilt testifies against us.We are aware of our sins,And we know well our iniquities:

Rebellion, faithlessness to GOD,And turning away from our God,Planning fraud and treachery,Conceiving lies and uttering them with the throat.cthroat Lit. “heart”; see note at 33.18 and frequently elsewhere.

And so redress is turned backAnd vindication stays afar,Because honesty stumbles in the public squareAnd uprightness cannot enter.

Honesty has been lacking,Whoever turns away from evil is despoiled.” GOD saw and was displeasedThat there was no redress.

[God] saw that there was nobody else,dnobody else Who was ready to step into the breach; cf. Rashi. Gazing long, but no one intervened.Then God’s own arm did win triumph,The victorious right handevictorious right hand Cf. Ps. 98.1–2. gave support.

[God] donned victory like a coat of mail,Wearing a helmet of triumph—Dressing in garments of retribution,Wrapped in zeal like a robe.

According to their deserts,So shall fury be repaidfAccording to … repaid Meaning of Heb. uncertain. to God’s foes;Requital shall be made to God’s enemies,Requital to the distant lands.

From the west, they shall reveregrevere Or (with a number of mss. and editions) “see.” GOD’s name,And from the east, the divine Presence.For [God] shall come like a hemmed-in streamThat the wind of the ETERNAL drives on;

[God] shall come as redeemer to Zion,To those in Jacob who turn back from sin—declares GOD.

And this shall be My covenant with them, said GOD: My spirithMy spirit I.e., the gift of prophecy; cf., e.g., 61.1. that is upon you, and the words that I have placed in your mouth, shall not be absent from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children—said GOD—from now on, for all time.iI.e., Israel is to be a prophet-nation; cf. 51.16.