Rampant Transgression

• and his ear is not too dull[fn]
• 2 [fn] between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing.
• 3  and your fingers with iniquity.
• Your lips have spoken lies,
  • your tongue speaks wickedness.
  • 4 [fn] justice, and there is nobody who judges with honesty.
• They rely on nothing
  • and speak vanity.
• They conceive trouble
  • and beget iniquity;
  • 5  and they weave a spider web.
• One who eats their eggs dies,
  • and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent.
  • 6  and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
• Their works are works of iniquity,
  • and deeds[fn] of violence are in their hands.
  • 7  and they hasten to shed innocent blood.
• Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
  • devastation and destruction are in their highways.
  • 8 the way of peace, and there is no justice in their firm paths.
• They have made their paths crooked for themselves;
  • everyone[fn] in it knows no peace.
  • 9  and righteousness does not reach us.
• We wait for light, but[fn] look! there is darkness;
  • for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
  • 10 along a wall, and we grope[fn] eyes.
• We stumble at noon as in the twilight;
  • among the strong we are like the dead.
  • 11  and we coo mutteringly like doves.
• We wait for justice, but[fn] there is none;
  • for salvation, but it is far from us.
  • 12  and our sins[fn] against us.
• Indeed, our transgressions are with us,
  • and we know our iniquities:
  • 13  and turning[fn] our God;
• speaking oppression and falsehood,
  • conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.
  • 14  and righteousness stands afar;
• for truth stumbles in the public square,
  • and straightforwardness is unable to enter,
  • 15  and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.
• And Yahweh saw,
  • and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice
  • 16  and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes,
• so[fn] his arm came to assist him,
  • and his righteousness[fn] sustained him.
  • 17 a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head,
• and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
  • and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a robe.
  • 18  wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his[fn]
  • He will repay requital to the coastlands.
  • 19 [fn] they shall fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the sunrise,
• for he will come like a narrow stream;
  • the wind of Yahweh drives it on.
  • 20  to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,”

declares[fn] Yahweh.

• 21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh:my spirit that is upon you,
  • and my words that I have placed in your mouth
• shall not depart from your mouth,
  • or[fn] from the mouths[fn] of your[fn]
  • or[fn] from the mouths[fn] of[fn]
    • says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”