1 The hand of Jehovah is not too weak to save or his ear too deaf to hear.

2 But your wrongs have separated you from your God. Your sins have made him hide his face so that he does not even hear you.

3 Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers are desecrated with sin. You speak lies, and you mutter wicked things.

4 No one calls for justice and no one pleads his case truthfully. People trust pointless arguments and speak lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil.

5 They hatch viper eggs and weave spider webs. Those who eat their eggs will die. When an egg is crushed, a poisonous snake is hatched.

6 Their webs cannot be used for clothes. They cannot cover themselves with their works for their works are evil. Their hands have committed acts of violence.

7 Their feet run to do evil. They hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil. Ruin and destruction are on their highways.

8 They do not know the way of peace. There is no justice on their highways. They made their paths crooked. Those who walk on them will never know peace.

9 That is why justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light and we walk in darkness. We hope for brightness but we walk in gloom.

10 We grope like blind men along a wall. We grope like people without eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were evening. We are like dead people among the living.

11 We all growl like bears. We coo like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none. We hope for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 You are aware of our many rebellious acts. Our sins testify against us. Our rebellious acts are with us. We know our iniquities.

13 We rebelled and denied Jehovah. We turned away from our God. We spoke about oppression and revolt. We conceived and uttered lies in our hearts.

14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away. Truth has fallen in the street, and honesty cannot come in.

15 Truth is missing. Those who turn away from evil become victims. Jehovah sees it, and what he saw displeased him because there is no justice.

16 He sees that there is no one to help. He is astounded that there is no one to intercede. So he saves him with his own power. His righteousness supports him.

17 He puts on righteousness like a coat of armor and a helmet of salvation on his head. He wears clothes of vengeance. He wraps himself with zeal as a coat.

18 He will pay them back according to their deeds. He will pay back his opponents with wrath and punish his enemies. He will pay back the people who live on the coastlands.

19 The people from the sunset the west will respect the name of Jehovah. Those from the rising of the sun the east will reverence his glory. He will come like a rushing stream that the Spirit windbreath of Jehovah drives.

20 »A Savior will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from sin, declares Jehovah.

21 »This is my promise to them,« says Jehovah. »My Spirit is on you and my words that I put in your mouth will not leave you. They will be with your children and your grandchildren permanently,« says Jehovah