| 1 | Behold, the Lord`s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. |
| 2 | But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. |
| 3 | For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. |
| 4 | No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. |
| 5 | They hatch vipers` eggs and weave the spider`s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. |
| 6 | Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. |
| 7 | Their 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. |
| 8 | The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. |
| 9 | Therefore justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! |
| 10 | We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight; We are as dead men in desolate places. |
| 11 | We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us. |
| 12 | For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them: |
| 13 | In transgressing and lying against the Lord, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. |
| 14 | Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. |
| 15 | So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. |
| 16 | He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. |
| 17 | For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak. |
| 18 | According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay. |
| 19 | So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. |
| 20 | "The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," Says the Lord. |
| 21 | "As for Me," says the Lord, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants` descendants," says the Lord, "from this time and forevermore." |