Isaiah 59

International Children’s Bible

59 Surely the Lord’s power is enough to save you.
    He can hear you when you ask him for help.
² It is your evil that has separated
    you from your God.
Your sins cause him to turn away from you.
    And then he does not hear you.
³ With your hands you have killed others.
    Your fingers are covered with blood from killing people.
With your lips you have lied.
    With your tongue you say evil things.
⁴ People take each other to court unfairly.
    No one tells the truth in arguing his case.
They accuse each other falsely and tell lies.
    They cause trouble and create more evil.
⁵ They hatch evil like eggs from poisonous snakes.
    If you eat one of those eggs, you will die.
    And if you break one open, a poisonous snake comes out.
People tell lies as they would spin a spider’s web.
⁶     The webs they make cannot be used for clothes.
    You can’t cover yourself with those webs.
The things they do are evil.
    They use their hands to hurt others.
⁷ They eagerly run to do evil.
    They are always ready to kill innocent people.
They think evil thoughts.
    Everywhere they go they cause ruin and destruction.
⁸ They don’t know how to live in peace.
    There is no fairness in their lives.
They are dishonest.
    Anyone who lives as they live will never have peace.

⁹ Fairness has gone far away.
    Goodness is nowhere to be found.
We wait for the light, but there is only darkness now.
    We hope for a bright light, but all we have is darkness.
¹⁰ We are like blind people feeling our way along a wall.
    We have to feel our way as if we had no eyes.
In the brightness of day we trip as if it were night.
    We are like dead men among the strong.
¹¹ All of us growl like the bears.
    We call out sadly like the doves.
We look for justice, but there isn’t any.
    We want to be saved, but salvation is far away.