Commentary on Isaiah - Volume 4

1Behold! the hand of Jehovah is not shortened, That it cannot, save; Nor is his ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

2But your sins have made a separation Between you And your God; And your sins have hidden his face from you, That he may not heal.

3For your hands are polluted with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have uttered falsehood; Your tongue hath spoken wickedness.

4There is none that crieth for justice, None that contendeth for truth; They trust in vain things, And talk icily; They conceive mischief, arid bring forth iniquity.

5They hatch the eggs of the basilisk, And weave the webs of spiders; He that eateth of their eggs shall die; If they be crushed, there shall come forth a viper.

6Their webs shall not become clothing, And they shall not cover themselves with their works; For their works are works of iniquity; ²⁵⁴ And the work of violence is in their hands.

7Their bet run to evil, And hasten to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are vain thoughts; ²⁵⁵ Wasting And destruction are in their paths.

8The way of peace they know not; And there is no judgment in their steps: They have corrupted their paths; Whosoever walketh by them shall not know peace.

9Therefore judgment hath departed far from us; And justice doth not overtake us. We looked for light, And, behold! obscurity; For brightness, And, behold! we walk amidst thick darkness.

10We grope for the wall like the blind; We grope like those who have been deprived of sight; We stumble at noon-day as in the night; Ill solitary places like dead men.

11We all roar like bears; And moaning, we moan like doves We looked for judgment, And it is not visible; For salvation, And it is far off from us.

12For our iniquities are multiplied before thee; And our sins have testified against us; ²⁵⁶ for our iniquities are with us, And we know our sins.

13We have done wickedly, And have lied to Jehovah, And have turned back from our God; Speaking slander And revolt; Conceiving And uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

14And judgment is driven back, And justice is far off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot come forth.

15Yea, truth faileth; And he who hath withdrawn from evil hath become a prey. And Jehovah saw it; And it displeased his eyes, that there was no judgment.

16He saw that there was no man, And wondered that none came forward; ²⁵⁷ Therefore his arm brought ²⁵⁸ salvation to him; And his righteousness, it upheld him.

17And he put on righteousness as a coat of mail, And the helmet of salvation on his head; He put on vengeance as a robe, And was clothed with indignation as a cloak.

18As if for the sake of recompenses, As if for rendering vengeance, For rendering indignation to his adversaries, Recompense to his enemies, He will render recompense to the islands.

19Therefore they shall fear the name of Jehovah from the west, And his glory from the rising of the sun; For the enemy shall come as a river; And the Spirit of Jehovah shall drive him. ²⁵⁹

20And a Redeemer shall come to Zion, And to them who have returned from iniquity in Jacob, Saith Jehovah.

21And this my covenant I make with them, saith Jehovah; My Spirit that is upon thee, And my words which I have put in thy mouth, Shall not depart out of thy mouth, Nor out of the mouth of thy seed, Nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed, saith Jehovah, From this time even for ever.