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¹The righteous man perishes [at the hand of evil], and no one takes it to heart; Faithful and devout men are taken away, while no one understands That the righteous person is taken away [to be spared] from disaster and evil.

²He enters into peace [through death]; They rest in their beds (graves), Each one who walked uprightly [following God's will, living with integrity].

³"But come here, you sons of a sorceress [raised in deception and superstition], Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.

⁴"Of whom do you make fun? Against whom do you open wide your mouth And stick out your tongue? Are you not children of rebellion (sin), Offspring of deceit,

⁵Who inflame yourselves [with lust in pagan rites] among the oaks (terebinth trees), Under every green and leafy tree, Who slaughter the children [in sacrifice] in the ravines Under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶"Among the smooth stones of the ravine Is your portion, they (the idols) are your lot; Even to them you have poured out a drink offering, You have offered a grain offering. Should I be quiet concerning these things [leaving them unpunished—bearing them with patience]?

⁷"Upon a high and lofty mountain You have [openly and shamelessly] made your [idolatrous and adulterous] bed; Even there you went up to offer sacrifice [to idols, in spiritual unfaithfulness to Me].

⁸"Behind the door and the doorpost You have set up your [pagan] symbol; Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself, And have gone up and made your bed wide. And you have made a [new] agreement for yourself with the adulterers, You have loved their bed, You have looked [with passion] on their manhood.

⁹"You have gone to the king [of a pagan land] with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your messengers a great distance And made them go down to Sheol (the realm of the dead).

¹⁰"You were wearied by the length of your road, Yet you did not say, 'It is no use.' You found renewed strength, Therefore you did not grow weak.

¹¹"About whom were you worried and fearful That you lied and did not remember Me, Nor give Me a thought? Was I not silent even for a long time And [as a result] you do not fear Me?

¹²"I will declare your [hypocritical] righteousness and your deeds, But they will not benefit you.

¹³"When you cry out [for help], let your [ridiculous] collection of idols save you. But the wind will carry them all away, A [mere] breath will take them. But he who takes refuge in Me will possess the land [Judea] And will inherit My holy mountain."

¹⁴And it will be said, "Build up, build up, clear the way. Remove the stumbling block out of the way [of the spiritual return] of My people."

¹⁵For the high and exalted One He who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy says this, "I dwell on the high and holy place, But also with the contrite and humble in spirit In order to revive the spirit of the humble And to revive the heart of the contrite [overcome with sorrow for sin].

¹⁶"For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For [if I did stay angry] the spirit [of man] would grow weak before Me, And the breath of those whom I have created.

¹⁷"Because of the wickedness of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, And he went on turning away and backsliding, in the way of his [own willful] heart.

¹⁸"I have seen his [willful] ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him [also] and will restore comfort to him and to those who mourn for him,

¹⁹As I create the praise of his lips, Peace, peace, to him who is far away [both Jew and Gentile] and to him who is near!" Says the LORD; "And I will heal him [making his lips blossom anew with thankful praise]."

²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up mire and mud.

²¹"There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

¹"Cry aloud, do not hold back; Lift up your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins.

²"Yet they seek Me day by day and delight [superficially] to know My ways, As [if they were in reality] a nation that has done righteousness And has not abandoned (turned away from) the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me righteous judgments, They delight in the nearness of God.

³'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You do not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?' Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do], And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].

⁴"The facts are that you fast only for strife and brawling and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.

⁵"Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]? Is it only to bow down his head like a reed And to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]? Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the LORD?

⁶"[Rather] is this not the fast which I choose, To undo the bonds of wickedness, To tear to pieces the ropes of the yoke, To let the oppressed go free And break apart every [enslaving] yoke?

⁷"Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?

⁸"Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your healing (restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth; Your righteousness will go before you [leading you to peace and prosperity], The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away from your midst the yoke [of oppression], The finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and [every form of] wicked (sinful, unjust) speech,

¹⁰And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungry And satisfy the need of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday.

¹¹"And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your soul in scorched and dry places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

¹²"And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste]; You will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³"If you turn back your foot from [ unnecessary travel on] the Sabbath, From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, and the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, not going your own way Or engaging in your own pleasure Or speaking your own [idle] words,

¹⁴Then you will take pleasure in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the high places of the earth, And I will feed you with the [promised] heritage of Jacob your father; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

¹Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short That it cannot save, Nor His ear so impaired That it cannot hear.

²But your wickedness has separated you from your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

³For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing]; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one sues righteously [but for the sake of doing injury to others—to take some undue advantage], and no one pleads [his case] in truth; [but rather] They trust in empty arguments and speak lies; They conceive trouble and bring forth injustice.

⁵They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's webs; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from an egg which is crushed a viper breaks out.

⁶Their webs will not serve as clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with what they make; Their works are works of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing], And the act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, And they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness [of sin, of injustice, of wrongdoing]; Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks. They have made them into crooked paths; Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us. We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness; We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom.

¹⁰We grope for a wall like the blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like dead men.

¹¹We all groan and growl like bears, And coo sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You [O LORD], And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know and recognize our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]:

¹³Rebelling against and denying the LORD, Turning away from [following] our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and muttering from the heart lying words.

¹⁴Justice is pushed back, And righteous behavior stands far away; For truth has fallen in the city square, And integrity cannot enter.

¹⁵Yes, truth is missing; And he who turns away from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw it, And it displeased Him that there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man, And was amazed that there was no one to intercede [on behalf of truth and right]; Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His own righteousness sustained Him.

¹⁷For He [the LORD] put on righteousness like a coat of armor, And salvation like a helmet on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And covered Himself with zeal [and great love for His people] as a cloak.

¹⁸As their deeds deserve, so He will repay: Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies; To the islands and coastlands He will repay.

¹⁹So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun. For He will come in like a narrow, rushing stream Which the breath of the LORD drives [overwhelming the enemy].

²⁰"A Redeemer (Messiah) will come to Zion, And to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from transgression (sin)," declares the LORD.

²¹"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit which is upon you [writing the law of God on the heart], and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your [true, spiritual] children, nor from the mouth of your children's children," says the LORD, "from now and forever."