Isaiah 59:1-12

Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save, Nor His ear so impaired That it cannot hear. But your wickedness has separated you from your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing]; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue mutters wickedness. No one sues righteously [but for the sake of doing injury to others—to take some undue advantage], and no one pleads [his case] in truth; [but rather] They trust in empty arguments and speak lies; They conceive trouble and bring forth injustice. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s webs; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from an egg which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not serve as clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with what they make; Their works are works of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing], And the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, And they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing]; Devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks. They have made them into crooked paths; Whoever walks on them does not know peace. [Rom 3:15-18] ¶Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us. We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness; We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom. We grope for a wall like the blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like dead men. We all groan and growl like bears, And coo sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before You [O LORD], And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know and recognize our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]