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Isaiah 59

KJV · Chapter 59/66

1Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

4None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

5They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

7Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

8The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

9Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

10We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

11We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

12For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;

13In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

14And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

15Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

16And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

17For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

18According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

19So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

20And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.

21As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

📖 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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. Isaiah 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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