Isaías 59

ARC · Chapter 59/66

1Eis que a mão do Senhor não está encolhida, para que não possa salvar; nem o seu ouvido aggravado, para não poder ouvir.

2Mas as vossas iniquidades fazem divisão entre vós e o vosso Deus: e os vossos peccados encobrem o seu rosto de vós, para que não ouça.

3Porque as vossas mãos estão contaminadas de sangue, e os vossos dedos de iniquidade: os vossos labios fallam falsidade, a vossa lingua pronuncia perversidade.

4Ninguem ha que clame pela justiça, nem ninguem que compareça em juizo pela verdade; confiam na vaidade, e andam fallando mentiras; concebem o trabalho, e parem a iniquidade.

5Ovos de basilisco chocam, e tecem teias de aranha: o que comer dos ovos d'elles morrerá; e, apertando-os, sae d'elles uma vibora.

6As suas teias não prestam para vestidos, nem se poderão cobrir com as suas obras: as suas obras são obras de iniquidade, e obra de violencia ha nas suas mãos.

7Os seus pés correm para o mal, e se apressam para derramarem o sangue innocente: os seus pensamentos são pensamentos de iniquidade, destruição e quebrantamento ha nas suas estradas.

8O caminho da paz não conhecem, nem ha juizo nos seus passos: as suas veredas torcem para si mesmos; todo aquelle que anda por ellas não tem conhecimento da paz.

9Pelo que o juizo está longe de nós, e a justiça não nos alcança; esperámos pela luz, e eis que trevas nos veem; pelo resplandor, mas andamos em escuridão.

10Apalpamos as paredes como cegos, e como sem olhos andamos apalpando: tropeçamos ao meio-dia como nas trevas, e nos logares escuros como mortos.

11Todos nós bramamos como ursos, e continuamente gememos como pombas: esperamos pelo juizo, e não o ha; pela salvação, e está longe de nós.

12Porque as nossas transgressões se multiplicaram perante ti, e os nossos peccados testificam contra nós; porque as nossas transgressões estão comnosco, e conhecemos as nossas iniquidades;

13Como o prevaricar, e mentir contra o Senhor, e o retirar-se de após o nosso Deus, o fallar de oppressão e rebellião, o conceber e inventar palavras de falsidade do coração.

14Pelo que o juizo se tornou atraz, e a justiça se poz de longe; porque a verdade anda tropeçando pelas ruas, e a equidade não pode entrar.

15Sim, a verdade desfallece, e quem se desvia do mal arrisca-se a ser despojado: e o Senhor o viu, e pareceu mal aos seus olhos, por não haver juizo.

16E vendo que ninguem havia, maravilhou-se de que não houvesse algum intercessor; pelo que o seu proprio braço lhe trouxe a salvação, e a sua propria justiça o susteve;

17Porque se vestiu de justiça, como de uma couraça, e poz o elmo da salvação na sua cabeça, e vestiu-se de vestidos de vingança por vestidura, e cobriu-se de zelo, como de um manto

18Conforme as obras d'elles, assim dará a recompensa, furor aos seus adversarios, e recompensa aos seus inimigos: ás ilhas dará o pago.

19Então temerão o nome do Senhor desde o poente, e a sua gloria desde o nascente do sol: vindo o inimigo como uma corrente de aguas, o Espirito do Senhor arvorará a bandeira contra elle.

20E virá um Redemptor a Sião e aos que se convertem da transgressão em Jacob, diz o Senhor.

21Quanto a mim, este é o meu concerto com elles, diz o Senhor: o meu espirito, que está sobre ti, e as minhas palavras, que puz em tua bocca, não se desviarão da tua bocca nem da bocca da tua semente, nem da bocca da semente da tua semente, diz o Senhor, desde agora e para todo o sempre.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Isaiah explains that the separation between the people and God is not a lack of divine power, but a consequence of their own sins: lying, violence, and injustice. Seeing that no one interceded, God's own arm brought salvation, and a Redeemer will come to Zion.

Explanation

The chapter begins by clearing up a common doubt: if prayers do not seem to be answered, the problem is not that the "LORD's hand" is shortened or weak, but sin, which "has separated" the people from God, like a wall blocking communication. The extensive list of sins (hands defiled with blood, lips that speak lies, feet that run to evil) describes a society morally diseased to its very root, unable to find its own way back to justice. The striking image of God putting on "the breastplate of righteousness" and "an helmet of salvation" like a warrior, acting alone because "there was no intercessor," anticipates the language Paul would later use in Ephesians 6 about the "armor of God." The practical application today is to honestly examine whether spiritual barriers in our lives are caused by our own choices, rather than automatically assuming that God is distant or unable to help.

Fun facts

  • The image of God putting on "the breastplate of righteousness" and "an helmet of salvation" (v.17) is directly quoted and expanded by Paul in Ephesians 6:14-17, in the famous passage about the "armor of God" still used by Christians today in the context of discipleship.
  • The final promise of a "Redeemer" who would come to Zion, "and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob," is quoted by Paul in Romans 11:26 when discussing the future role of Israel in God's plan of salvation.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 59:1“The Lord’s hand is not shortened” and “his ear heavy” are images of physical incapacity; the chapter opens by denying that God’s silence is due to any limitation of His, setting up the real explanation that follows.
  2. Isaías 59:2“Have separated” and “hid his face” describe sin as a barrier that interrupts communication — not God pulling away on His own, but the people distancing themselves because of their own actions.
  3. Isaías 59:3Hands defiled with blood, fingers of iniquity, and a perverse tongue list a physical portrait of sin, each body part tied to a different kind of wrongdoing committed.
  4. Isaías 59:4“None calleth for justice” describes a total collapse of the legal system, where lies and vanity replace any sincere defense of truth in the courts.
  5. Isaías 59:5Cockatrice eggs that hatch poison and spider webs that clothe no one compare the people’s actions to things that look productive but are useless or dangerous. It’s all work that serves no good purpose.
  6. Isaías 59:6Comparing the people’s works to spider webs, unable to serve as clothing, shows that all this effort produces nothing useful, only violence disguised as activity.
  7. Isaías 59:7Feet that run to evil and shed innocent blood describe haste in doing wrong, and “wasting and destruction” in the roads suggest that even ordinary paths became scenes of violence.
  8. Isaías 59:8“The way of peace they know not” sums up the chapter so far: the people’s own paths are crooked, incapable of leading anywhere resembling peace or justice.
  9. Isaías 59:9Waiting for light and receiving darkness describes the frustration of someone hoping for relief and finding only more darkness, a direct result of the behavior described in the previous verses.
  10. Isaías 59:10Groping at walls like the blind describes moral confusion as physical blindness: people stumbling at noon, when everything should be clear. Widespread injustice has erased the ability to see the right path.
  11. Isaías 59:11Roaring like bears and moaning like doves combines two very different sounds of suffering, one fierce and one gentle, to describe the collective anguish of waiting for a salvation that doesn’t arrive.
  12. Isaías 59:12“Our transgressions are multiplied” shifts the tone to collective confession, openly acknowledging that the people know their own iniquities, without trying to deny or justify them.
  13. Isaías 59:13The list of sins here, lying, turning away from God, speaking oppression, is more abstract than the list of physical actions at the start of the chapter, showing that the problem also lies at the level of intention and speech.
  14. Isaías 59:14“Judgment is turned away backward” and “truth is fallen in the street” personify abstract concepts as wounded people, unable to move freely in a corrupt society.
  15. Isaías 59:15“He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey” describes a society so inverted that doing right has become dangerous, a scenario that finally draws God’s attention to act.
  16. Isaías 59:16“Wondered that there was no intercessor” describes surprise at the total absence of anyone willing to mediate or defend the right cause, leading God to act alone by His own strength.
  17. Isaías 59:17God dressed in a breastplate and helmet uses the language of a warrior arming for battle. It’s an image that, seeing no one else doing right, He Himself takes up the fight for justice.
  18. Isaías 59:18“According to their deeds” establishes the principle of retribution: God’s response is proportional to what each group did, reaching even the distant islands mentioned in other chapters as a symbol for the nations.
  19. Isaías 59:19Fearing the name of the Lord “from the west” to “the rising of the sun” repeats the same expression of universal reach used in chapter 45, and the image of the enemy as a flood of water held back by a standard describes direct intervention against an overwhelming threat.
  20. Isaías 59:20The coming of “the Redeemer… to Zion” connects this chapter to the restoration theme that dominates the second half of the book, addressed specifically to those within the people who repent.
  21. Isaías 59:21The “covenant” promising that the spirit and the words will never leave the people’s mouth, nor their children’s, guarantees permanent continuity of revelation, from parent to child, with no end in sight.

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