Isaiah

¹ God's arm is not amputated—he can still save. God's ears are not stopped up—he can still hear.

² Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn't hear.

³ your fingers dripping with guilt, Your lips smeared with lies, your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities.

⁴ no one deals fairly. They trust in illusion, they tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies.

⁵ Eat an egg and die; break an egg and get a snake!

⁶ No one can wear these weavings! They weave wickedness, they hatch violence.

⁷ and run to be the first to murder. They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil, and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them.

⁸ and less than nothing about justice. They make tortuously twisted roads. No peace for the wretch who walks down those roads!

⁹ and we're not even close to right living. We long for light but sink into darkness, long for brightness but stumble through the night.

¹⁰ groping eyeless in the dark. We shuffle our way in broad daylight, like the dead, but somehow walking.

¹¹ and no worse off than doves, moaning. We look for justice—not a sign of it; for salvation—not so much as a hint.

¹² our sins stand up and accuse us. Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we've done:

¹³ not following our God, Spreading false rumors, inciting sedition, pregnant with lies, muttering malice.

¹⁴ Righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found,

¹⁵ Anyone renouncing evil is beaten and robbed. God looked and saw evil looming on the horizon— so much evil and no sign of Justice.

¹⁶ not a soul around to correct this awful situation. So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation, fueled by his own Righteousness.

¹⁷ with Salvation on his head like a helmet, Put on Judgment like an overcoat, and threw a cloak of Passion across his shoulders.

¹⁸ fury for his foes, just deserts for his enemies. Even the far-off islands will get paid off in full.

¹⁹ in the east they'll fear the glory of God, For he'll arrive like a river in flood stage, whipped to a torrent by the wind of God.

²⁰ to those in Jacob who leave their sins." God's Decree.

²¹ "As for me," God says, "this is my covenant with them: My Spirit that I've placed upon you and the words that I've given you to speak, they're not going to leave your mouths nor the mouths of your children nor the mouths of your grandchildren. You will keep repeating these words and won't ever stop." God's orders.