Isaiah 59:1-8

Isaiah warns God's people about their sins

1 Listen! The Lord's hand is not too weak to save you.

His ear is not too deaf to hear you.

2 But the wrong things that you have done

have made you separate from your God.

Your sins have caused him to turn away from you,

so that he does not listen to your prayers.

3 Your hands are dirty with the blood of murder.

They are dirty with all the bad things that you do.

Your mouth tells lies,

and it says wicked things about other people.

4 When people accuse somebody in court,

the truth is not important.

They tell lies and they deceive the judge,

so that they will win.

They decide how they can cause trouble,

and then they do wicked things.

5 Their thoughts are like the eggs of a snake.

If anyone eats those eggs, they will die!

When an egg breaks open,

a dangerous snake is born!

They like to catch people,

like a spider that makes a web.

59:5A spider is small, like an insect. It uses very thin strings (threads) to make a web. It catches insects in the web for its food.

6 Their webs are useless to make clothes.

They cannot cover themselves with them.

The things that they do are useless like that.

They do only wicked things.

They use their strength only to hurt people.

7 They rush to do evil things.

They hurry to kill people who have not done anything wrong.

They think only about sin.

They only want to be cruel and to hurt people.

8 They do not know how to live in peace.

They cannot be honest and fair.

Their way of life is all wrong.

Nobody who lives like that will have peace.