| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. | 1Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. |
| 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. | 2It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. |
| 3For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice. | 3Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption. |
| 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. | 4No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin. |
| 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. | 5They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; whoever cracks them will hatch a viper. |
| 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. | 6Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark. |
| 7Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake. | 7Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them. |
| 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. | 8They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace. |
| 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. | 9So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom. |
| 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. | 10We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead. |
| 11We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us. | 11We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us. |
| 12For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are indeed with us, and we know our iniquities: | 12For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are. |
| 13rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart. | 13We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies. |
| 14So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. | 14Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed. |
| 15Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. | 15Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. |
| 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. | 16He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him. |
| 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. | 17He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion. |
| 18So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands. | 18He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth. |
| 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. | 19In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the LORD. |
| 20“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD. | 20“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,” says the LORD. |
| 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. | 21“And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken! |
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