¹Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you.²But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers.³For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words.⁴No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin. ⁵They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, a poisonous snake is hatched. ⁶Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes.⁷They are eager to do evil, quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy. ⁸They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ⁹For this reason deliverance is far from us and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, but see only darkness; we wait for a bright light, but live in deep darkness. ¹⁰We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men.¹¹We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us. ¹²For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, and our sins testify against us; indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds; we know our sins all too well. ¹³We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ¹⁴Justice is driven back; godliness stands far off. Indeed, honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter. ¹⁵Honesty has disappeared; the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed. The Lord watches and is displeased, for there is no justice. ¹⁶He sees there is no advocate; he is shocked that no one intervenes. So he takes matters into his own hands; his desire for justice drives him on.¹⁷He wears his desire for justice like body armor, and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. He puts on the garments of vengeance and wears zeal like a robe. ¹⁸He repays them for what they have done, dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries and punishing his enemies. He repays the coastlands. ¹⁹In the west, people respect the Lord’s reputation; in the east they recognize his splendor. For he comes like a rushing stream driven on by wind sent from the Lord. ²⁰“A protector comes to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their rebellious deeds,” says the Lord. ²¹“As for me, this is my promise to them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” says the Lord.