Isaiah · 21 verses
Isaiah 59
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A viper is hatched by the simple expedient of cracking open its egg, which is a remarkably poor sort of household craft.
Eggs, webs, and crooked pathsvv. 1–8
The trouble is not that the LORD cannot hear or save; sin has built the barrier. Blood is on hands, lies are on tongues, and justice has found no advocate. The people hatch vipers, weave webs too flimsy for clothing, and run so quickly towards evil that peace has vanished from the road.
The bear-and-dove lamentvv. 9–15
The people now speak as those trapped in the consequences: feeling along walls, stumbling at noon, and making an astonishing duet of growling bears and moaning doves. They hope for justice and salvation, but find neither. Truth has stumbled in the public square, honesty cannot get in, and anyone who turns from evil becomes prey.
The arm takes the workvv. 16–21
The LORD looks for an intercessor and finds no one, which produces amazement rather than a committee meeting. His own arm therefore brings salvation, while righteousness sustains Him; righteousness becomes a breastplate, salvation a helmet, vengeance a garment, and zeal a cloak. The Redeemer comes to Zion, and the covenant extends through mouths, children, and grandchildren for evermore.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Isa 59:1Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.
Isa 59:2But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
Isa 59:3For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.
Isa 59:4No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
Isa 59:5They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
Isa 59:6Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
Isa 59:8The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.
Isa 59:9Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
Isa 59:10Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.
Isa 59:11We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
Isa 59:12For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are indeed with us, and we know our iniquities:
Isa 59:13rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
Isa 59:14So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.
Isa 59:15Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
Isa 59:16He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.
Isa 59:17He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.
Isa 59:18So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands.
Isa 59:19So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises. For He will come like a raging flood, driven by the breath of the LORD.
Isa 59:20“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
Isa 59:21“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 355 passages were voted onto 21 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 21Jeremiah 31:31–34Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
- 21Hebrews 10:16“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”
- 21Ezekiel 36:25–27I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- 21Jeremiah 32:38–41They will be My people, and I will be their God.
- 21Hebrews 8:6–13Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.
- 212 Corinthians 3:17–18Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- 21Isaiah 51:16I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
- 21Isaiah 44:3For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
- 21Romans 8:9You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
- 21John 7:16–17“My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me.
- 1Jeremiah 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- 1Isaiah 50:2Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
- 1Numbers 11:23The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”
- 1Isaiah 65:24Even before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
- 211 Corinthians 15:3–58For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- 212 Corinthians 3:8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
Onward