Isaiah 59

Isaiah answers the complaint that God has not rescued His people. The fault is not His power but their sin, which has cut them off from Him. Then the people confess, God sees that no one will stand for justice, and He Himself puts on armor to save. The chapter ends with a Redeemer for those who turn back, and a covenant of His Spirit and His words.

Isaiah 59:1

The people feel that God has let them down. Isaiah answers plainly: God is not weak and He is not deaf. His reach is long enough to rescue, and His ear is open. The trouble lies somewhere else.

BSA: arm (“hand”): God’s arm or hand means His active power, which has not shrunk or run short. dull (“heavy”): A heavy ear is slow to respond, and Isaiah says God’s ear is not like that.

See also: Numbers 11:23; Isaiah 50:2.

Isaiah 59:2

Sin is the problem. Like a wall built brick by brick, wrongdoing stands between people and God. It veils His face so that He will not hear their prayers. The separation comes from our side, not His.

BSA: barriers (“a dividing wall”): Sin does more than offend God. It sets up a wall that divides us from Him. hidden (“concealed, veiled”): God’s face is covered from the sinner, so His nearness cannot be felt.

See also: Psalm 66:18; Ephesians 2:14.

Isaiah 59:3

Isaiah names the guilt through the body: hands, fingers, lips and tongue. Their hands are stained with blood, which means violence. Their mouths speak lies and mutter wrongdoing. Sin touches deeds and words alike.

BSA: stained (“defiled, stained”): The word means ritually and morally soiled, so their hands cannot be lifted to God in worship.

See also: Isaiah 1:15.

Isaiah 59:4

In the courts no one speaks up for what is right or argues honestly. People trust empty words and lies. Like a pregnancy, evil is conceived as a plan and then born as an act, and what comes out is trouble.

BSA: conceive (“plan, devise”): Wrongdoing begins as a plan in the mind before it becomes an act.

See also: James 1:15; Psalm 7:14.

Isaiah 59:5

Two pictures show that evil is deadly and useless. Viper eggs look harmless but hold poison, and anyone who eats one dies. Crack one open and a snake comes out. The plans of the wicked hide harm and spread it.

BSA: vipers (“poisonous serpents”): The image is of a creature that kills, so these schemes are deadly.

Isaiah 59:6

A spider’s web cannot be worn as clothing. In the same way, human schemes cannot cover shame or make a person acceptable. Their works are only sin and violence. Nothing we weave ourselves can clothe us before God.

BSA: cover themselves (“hide, conceal”): They try to hide their guilt behind their deeds, but the deeds cannot hide it.

See also: Genesis 3:7; Isaiah 64:6.

Isaiah 59:7

Their feet hurry toward evil. They are quick to kill the innocent, and their thoughts are set on wrong. They leave ruin wherever they walk. Paul quotes these words in Romans 3 to describe the whole human condition.

BSA: swift (“quick, hurried”): They are eager for evil and in a hurry to do it.

See also: Romans 3:15-17; Proverbs 1:16.

Isaiah 59:8

They have never walked the road of peace. Peace here means wholeness and well-being, and they have not known it. They have twisted their paths until they are crooked, and anyone who follows them finds no peace either.

BSA: peace (“shalom, completeness and wellness”): The Hebrew word means wholeness in every part of life, far more than the end of fighting.

See also: Proverbs 2:15.

Isaiah 59:9

Now the speaker changes from “they” to “we”, and the prophet joins the people in confession. Justice and righteousness are far off because of what the people have done. They long for light but live in darkness. The cause of the darkness is moral.

BSA: darkness (“spiritual and moral gloom”): The darkness is more than missing sunlight. It is a life with no moral or spiritual clarity.

See also: Isaiah 5:30.

Isaiah 59:10

Sin has left them like blind people feeling along a wall. They stumble even at noon, when everyone else can see. Among the strong and healthy they feel like the dead. It is a vivid picture of lost direction and lost life.

BSA: midday (“in the full light of day”): Even where there is plenty of light, they cannot see their way.

See also: Deuteronomy 28:29.

Isaiah 59:11

Their grief comes out as sound. Some growl like bears, and some moan like doves. They wait for justice and rescue, but neither comes. The longing is honest, yet the cause lies in their own sin, as the next verses say.

BSA: salvation (“deliverance, rescue”): They want to be rescued, but their sin keeps rescue far from them.

Isaiah 59:12

The confession becomes personal. Their wrongs are many before God, and those wrongs speak against them like witnesses in court. The sins are not far away. They stay close, and the people know them well.

BSA: testify (“give witness, speak out”): Their own sins stand up like witnesses in a trial and speak against them.

See also: Psalm 51:3.

Isaiah 59:13

Here the sins are listed: rebelling against the LORD, denying Him, turning away from Him, and speaking oppression and lies. The lies are conceived in the heart before the lips say them. The root is a turning away from God.

BSA: heart (“the center of feelings, will, and intellect”): Lies begin in the center of the person, in thought, desire and will together.

See also: Matthew 15:19.

Isaiah 59:14

Society itself breaks down. Justice is pushed back and righteousness stands far off. Truth stumbles in the public square, where legal and public business was done, and honesty is not allowed in. When truth falls in public, everyone suffers.

BSA: stumbled (“fallen, lost balance”): Truth is pictured as a person who trips and falls in the open street. public square (“street, plaza, marketplace”): This was the place for trade and for settling disputes, so the failure is public.

Isaiah 59:15

Truth is missing, and anyone who refuses evil becomes a victim. Then comes the turning point: the LORD sees it. He is displeased that there is no justice. God is not blind to injustice and is not indifferent to it.

BSA: prey (“a spoil, robbed”): A person who refuses evil is treated like loot, robbed and made a victim.

See also: Psalm 11:7.

Isaiah 59:16

God looks for someone to step in and put things right, and He finds no one. He is astonished. So He acts Himself. His own arm brings the rescue, and His own righteousness holds Him up. Salvation comes from God alone. Christians have seen Christ in this verse.

BSA: intercede (“to stand in the gap, to mediate”): God looked for someone to stand between the guilty and judgment. arm (“the arm as stretched out; strength, might, power”): God’s own outstretched strength does what no human could do.

See also: Isaiah 63:5; Ezekiel 22:30.

Isaiah 59:17

God is pictured as a warrior putting on armor. Righteousness is His breastplate and salvation His helmet. He is also clothed in vengeance and zeal. Paul uses this armor in Ephesians 6, where he says believers are to put on the same pieces.

BSA: zeal (“jealousy, passionate devotion”): God’s zeal is a fierce love that will not let evil win.

See also: Ephesians 6:14-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8.

Isaiah 59:18

God will repay people fairly, according to what they have done. His enemies receive fury and His foes receive retribution. Even the distant coastlands, meaning far-off nations, will receive what is due. His justice reaches everywhere and is fair.

BSA: islands (“coastlands, distant lands”): The word stands for the far shores of the known world, so God’s judgment is not limited to Israel.

See also: Romans 2:6.

Isaiah 59:19

From west to east, people everywhere will come to fear the LORD’s name and glory. His coming is like a rushing river driven by the wind of the LORD. Some read the last line as God Himself raising a banner against the enemy. The meaning of the verse is that no one can resist Him.

BSA: fear (“reverently worship, stand in awe of”): This is awe before God’s greatness, which leads to worship. name (“identity, character, reputation”): God’s name stands for who He is, and the nations will come to know Him.

See also: Malachi 1:11.

Isaiah 59:20

Judgment is not the last word. The Redeemer comes to Zion, for those in Jacob who turn from transgression. Rescue is given to those who repent. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 11, and Christians have read it as pointing to Christ.

BSA: Redeemer (“a saviour, to redeem”): In Israel a redeemer was a close relative who rescued or bought back one in need, and God takes that role. turn (“return, repent”): The Redeemer’s help is for those who turn back to God.

See also: Romans 11:26-27; Job 19:25.

Isaiah 59:21

God promises a covenant. His Spirit will stay with His people and His words will remain in their mouths. This will last for their children and grandchildren, for all time. What He gives is lasting, and He gives it to their descendants too.

BSA: covenant (“promise, agreement”): A covenant is a binding commitment, and here God Himself pledges to keep it. depart (“leave, abandon”): God promises not to leave His people, and His words will not leave their mouths.

See also: Jeremiah 31:33; Isaiah 44:3.