Isaiah 59 Study Notes: Sin Separates and the Redeemer Comes
Isaiah explains that the LORD can still save, but the people’s sins have cut them off from Him, and he exposes their violence, lies, and injustice. The people confess their guilt, and the LORD, finding no one to help, puts on armor and acts alone to save, promising a Redeemer for the repentant and His abiding Spirit.
General
According to 59:18-19, what result follows when the LORD repays His enemies?
Answer: His name is feared from the west to the east
The LORD will pay back each according to deeds: wrath for His enemies and retribution for His foes, even to the distant coastlands, here called the islands (59:18). The result is worldwide reverence. People in the west will revere the LORD’s name, and people in the east His glory, for He will arrive like a rushing flood driven by His breath (59:19). God judges each person according to what he has done (Romans 2:6). Malachi foresaw His name honored by the nations from sunrise to sunset (Malachi 1:11), and a psalmist praises His name across that same span (Psalm 113:3).
- Isaiah 59:18-19 (BSB)“So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands. So 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.”The LORD repays according to deeds, and His name and glory are feared from west to east.
- Romans 2:6 (BSB)“God “will repay each one according to his deeds.””Paul restates the principle that God repays each one according to his deeds.
- Malachi 1:11 (BSB)“For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.”Malachi foresees the LORD’s name being great among the nations from sunrise to sunset.
- Psalm 113:3 (BSB)“From where the sun rises to where it sets, the name of the LORD is praised.”The psalmist praises the LORD’s name from where the sun rises to where it sets.
Theological
What outcome of the LORD’s repayment does 59:18-19 announce?
Answer: His name is feared from the west to the east
Repayment according to deeds, with fury for adversaries and recompense even for the coastlands (59:18), issues in universal reverence for the LORD’s name and glory from west to east, as He comes like a torrent driven by His breath (59:19). Judgment and the spread of His fame belong together. The principle of judgment by deeds is restated in Romans 2:6; the worldwide honor of His name is foreseen in Malachi 1:11, and Psalm 113:3 already praises His name from sunrise to sunset.
- Isaiah 59:18-19 (BSB)“So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands. So 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.”The LORD repays according to deeds, and His name and glory are feared from west to east.
- Romans 2:6 (BSB)“God “will repay each one according to his deeds.””Paul restates the principle that God repays each one according to his deeds.
- Malachi 1:11 (BSB)“For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.”Malachi foresees the LORD’s name being great among the nations from sunrise to sunset.
- Psalm 113:3 (BSB)“From where the sun rises to where it sets, the name of the LORD is praised.”The psalmist praises the LORD’s name from where the sun rises to where it sets.
General
When the LORD saw that no one could intervene (59:15-16), how did salvation come?
Answer: By His own arm, sustained by His righteousness
The LORD saw the absence of justice and was displeased. He found no one to step in on the people’s behalf and was astonished (59:15-16). So He acted Himself: His own arm won the rescue, upheld by His own righteousness. The rescue came entirely from God because no human could provide it. Isaiah says the same of the warrior in 63:5, and Paul says Christ died for ungodly people when they were powerless (Romans 5:6). Salvation is by grace, a gift of God and not the result of works, leaving no room for boasting (Ephesians 2:8-9).
- Isaiah 59:15-16 (BSB)“Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He 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.”Finding no one to intervene, the LORD acts to save by His own arm.
- Isaiah 63:5 (BSB)“I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.”The same pattern returns later: no helper is found, so the LORD’s own arm brings salvation.
- Romans 5:6 (BSB)“For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”Christ died for the ungodly at a time when they were powerless to help themselves.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 (BSB)“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”Salvation is God’s gift by grace, not by works, so no one can boast.
Theological
According to 59:15-16, by what means did salvation come when no human intercessor was found?
Answer: By His own arm, sustained by His righteousness
The LORD surveyed the moral collapse of 59:14-15, found no man and no intercessor, and was astonished (59:16). He therefore acted alone: His own arm accomplished salvation, upheld by His own righteousness. The initiative and the power belong wholly to God, as in the parallel of 63:5. Paul applies the same pattern to the gospel: Christ died for ungodly people when they were powerless (Romans 5:6), and salvation is by grace through faith, God’s gift, leaving no ground for boasting (Ephesians 2:8-9).
- Isaiah 59:15-16 (BSB)“Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He 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.”Finding no one to intervene, the LORD acts to save by His own arm.
- Isaiah 63:5 (BSB)“I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.”The same pattern returns later: no helper is found, so the LORD’s own arm brings salvation.
- Romans 5:6 (BSB)“For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”Christ died for the ungodly at a time when they were powerless to help themselves.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 (BSB)“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”Salvation is God’s gift by grace, not by works, so no one can boast.
General
According to 59:1-2, why does the LORD not hear His people?
Answer: Their sins have put barriers between them and God
The chapter opens by ruling out the excuse the people might reach for: the LORD’s arm is not too weak to save, and His ear is not dull (59:1). The real problem lies with them. Their iniquities have built a wall between them and their God, and their sins have turned His face away, and He does not listen (59:2). Isaiah said the same at the start of the book: God would not listen to prayers lifted by hands covered with blood (1:15), and a psalmist confesses that cherished sin would have kept the Lord from listening (Psalm 66:18). This is not only Judah’s problem. Paul teaches that every person has sinned and lacks God’s glory (Romans 3:23), so every person by nature stands separated from God by sin until God Himself acts to save, which is exactly what the rest of this chapter goes on to show (59:16, 20).
- Isaiah 59:1-2 (BSB)“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But 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.”The LORD’s power is not lacking; the people’s own sins have cut them off from Him.
- Isaiah 1:15 (BSB)“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”Isaiah warned from the start that God would not listen to prayers lifted by blood-stained hands.
- Psalm 66:18 (BSB)“If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”Cherished sin keeps the Lord from listening, the same barrier 59:2 describes.
- Romans 3:23 (BSB)“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”Paul extends the problem to everyone: all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
Theological
What reason does 59:1-2 give for the LORD’s apparent silence toward His people?
Answer: Their sins have put barriers between them and God
The LORD’s ability is not in question; His arm can save and His ear can hear (59:1). The barrier is moral: Judah’s iniquities stand between the people and God, and their sins have turned His face from them (59:2), as Isaiah warned when he said God would not listen to blood-stained hands raised in prayer (1:15; compare Psalm 66:18). The verse describes Judah, but Paul’s verdict that every person has sinned and lacks God’s glory (Romans 3:23) shows that the same separation is the condition of every fallen person, a separation that only God’s own saving intervention removes (59:16, 20).
- Isaiah 59:1-2 (BSB)“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But 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.”The LORD’s power is not lacking; the people’s own sins have cut them off from Him.
- Isaiah 1:15 (BSB)“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”Isaiah warned from the start that God would not listen to prayers lifted by blood-stained hands.
- Psalm 66:18 (BSB)“If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”Cherished sin keeps the Lord from listening, the same barrier 59:2 describes.
- Romans 3:23 (BSB)“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”Paul extends the problem to everyone: all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
General
What does the LORD promise in His covenant in 59:21?
Answer: His Spirit and words will stay with them and their offspring
The chapter ends with the LORD speaking of His covenant with those who turn to Him. His Spirit will not leave them, and the words He has put in their mouths will not leave their mouths or the mouths of their children and grandchildren, for all time (59:21). It is a promise that God Himself will keep His people. The prophets elsewhere promise that God will put His Spirit within His people and make them walk in His ways (Ezekiel 36:27), and that in an everlasting covenant He will place reverence for Himself within them so that they do not abandon Him (Jeremiah 32:40). This fits Jesus’ promise of the Spirit, who would be with His followers forever (John 14:16-17). The people God redeems are kept by God, which is what Reformed Christians call the perseverance of the saints.
- Isaiah 59:21 (BSB)““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.”The LORD’s covenant promises His abiding Spirit and words to His people and their descendants.
- Ezekiel 36:27 (BSB)“And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.”God promises to put His Spirit within His people and cause them to obey.
- Jeremiah 32:40 (BSB)“I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.”In an everlasting covenant God puts His fear in His people’s hearts so they will not turn away.
- John 14:16-17 (BSB)“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.”Jesus promises the Spirit of truth to be with His disciples forever.
Theological
What is the content of the covenant promise in 59:21?
Answer: His Spirit and words will stay with them and their offspring
The covenant of 59:21 promises the abiding presence of the Spirit and the abiding possession of God’s words, passed from parents to children and grandchildren for all time. It is a pledge of preservation grounded in God’s own commitment, the same promise found in Ezekiel 36:27 (the Spirit within, producing obedience) and Jeremiah 32:40 (an everlasting covenant in which God places reverence for Himself within them so that they do not abandon Him), and it fits Christ’s promise of the Spirit who remains with His people forever (John 14:16-17). God’s keeping of His redeemed people is the ground of the perseverance of the saints.
- Isaiah 59:21 (BSB)““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.”The LORD’s covenant promises His abiding Spirit and words to His people and their descendants.
- Ezekiel 36:27 (BSB)“And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.”God promises to put His Spirit within His people and cause them to obey.
- Jeremiah 32:40 (BSB)“I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.”In an everlasting covenant God puts His fear in His people’s hearts so they will not turn away.
- John 14:16-17 (BSB)“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.”Jesus promises the Spirit of truth to be with His disciples forever.
General
Paul quotes 59:7-8 in Romans 3. What point is he using it to support?
Answer: That every person, Jew or Gentile, stands guilty of sin
Isaiah describes people who hurry toward evil, quick to kill the innocent, who leave ruin behind them and have never known peace (59:7-8). Paul gathers these lines into a chain of Old Testament quotations in Romans 3 (Romans 3:15-17). His charge is that both Jews and Greeks are under sin (Romans 3:9), that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10), and that every mouth is silenced and all the world answerable to God (Romans 3:19). So a description of Judah in Isaiah’s day becomes, in Paul’s hands, a portrait of the human heart apart from grace. This is what Reformed Christians call total depravity: sin has affected every part of human nature, so no one can make himself right with God.
- Isaiah 59:7-8 (BSB)“Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake. The 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.”Isaiah describes people who hurry toward violence and do not know peace.
- Romans 3:9 (BSB)“What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.”Paul states the charge his quotations support: Jews and Greeks alike are under sin.
- Romans 3:10 (BSB)“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.”The chain of quotations opens with the verdict that no one is righteous.
- Romans 3:15-17 (BSB)““Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery lie in their wake, and the way of peace they have not known.””Paul quotes Isaiah 59:7-8 within that chain.
- Romans 3:19 (BSB)“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”The goal of the chain is that every mouth is silenced and the whole world is accountable to God.
Theological
In Romans 3, Paul cites 59:7-8 as part of which argument?
Answer: That every person, Jew or Gentile, stands guilty of sin
Isaiah’s indictment of Judah, with its picture of people hurrying toward evil, quick to kill the innocent, and strangers to peace (59:7-8), is taken up by Paul in his chain of citations in Romans 3 (Romans 3:15-17). Paul’s thesis is that both Jews and Greeks are under sin (Romans 3:9) and that none is righteous (Romans 3:10), with the result that every mouth is stopped and all the world stands answerable to God (Romans 3:19). The passage thus serves as scriptural proof of total depravity: apart from grace, sin pervades the whole person and the whole race.
- Isaiah 59:7-8 (BSB)“Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake. The 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.”Isaiah describes people who hurry toward violence and do not know peace.
- Romans 3:9 (BSB)“What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.”Paul states the charge his quotations support: Jews and Greeks alike are under sin.
- Romans 3:10 (BSB)“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.”The chain of quotations opens with the verdict that no one is righteous.
- Romans 3:15-17 (BSB)““Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery lie in their wake, and the way of peace they have not known.””Paul quotes Isaiah 59:7-8 within that chain.
- Romans 3:19 (BSB)“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”The goal of the chain is that every mouth is silenced and the whole world is accountable to God.
General
According to 59:20, to whom will the Redeemer come?
Answer: To the people of Jacob who repent of their sin
The LORD declares that the Redeemer, the one who buys back and rescues His people, will arrive in Zion for those descendants of Jacob who turn away from their sins (59:20). His coming is tied to repentance, which means turning away from sin and back to God. Isaiah links redemption with the call to return to God elsewhere too (44:22), and Peter says God sent His Servant to bless Israel by turning each one from wickedness (Acts 3:26). Paul quotes this passage, together with 59:21, in Romans 11:26-27, in a form that speaks of the Deliverer coming from Zion and removing godlessness from Jacob, along with God’s covenant to forgive their sins. Paul introduces the quotation with his statement about the salvation of all Israel (Romans 11:26), which faithful readers understand in more than one way; what is clear is that God keeps His covenant promise to redeem and to forgive.
- Isaiah 59:20 (BSB)““The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.”The LORD declares that the Redeemer will come to the repentant in Jacob.
- Romans 11:26-27 (BSB)“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.””Paul quotes Isaiah 59:20-21 of the Deliverer from Zion who removes godlessness and sin.
- Acts 3:26 (BSB)“When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.””Peter says God sent His Servant to bless Israel by turning each one from wickedness.
- Isaiah 44:22 (BSB)“I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”Redemption and the call to return to the LORD go together elsewhere in Isaiah.
Theological
In 59:20, to whom is the Redeemer’s coming directed?
Answer: To the people of Jacob who repent of their sin
The Redeemer comes to Zion, specifically to those within Jacob who forsake their sins (59:20); the promise is bound up with repentance, which God Himself works, as Peter says God sent His Servant to bless Israel by turning each one from wickedness (Acts 3:26; compare Isaiah 44:22). Paul cites 59:20-21 in Romans 11:26-27, in a form that speaks of the Deliverer coming from Zion, banishing ungodliness from Jacob, and of a covenant to forgive their sins. Paul’s introductory statement about the salvation of all Israel (Romans 11:26) is understood differently among faithful interpreters, but God’s covenant faithfulness to redeem is not in doubt.
- Isaiah 59:20 (BSB)““The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.”The LORD declares that the Redeemer will come to the repentant in Jacob.
- Romans 11:26-27 (BSB)“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.””Paul quotes Isaiah 59:20-21 of the Deliverer from Zion who removes godlessness and sin.
- Acts 3:26 (BSB)“When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.””Peter says God sent His Servant to bless Israel by turning each one from wickedness.
- Isaiah 44:22 (BSB)“I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”Redemption and the call to return to the LORD go together elsewhere in Isaiah.
General
In 59:17, who is pictured putting on a breastplate and helmet?
Answer: The LORD Himself, ready to act
The armor in 59:17 belongs to the LORD. Having found no one else to act, He clothes Himself for battle, with righteousness serving as His breastplate, salvation as His helmet, and vengeance and zeal as His clothing and cloak. The image shows a God who is personally committed both to saving His people and to judging evil. Paul later echoes this language when he urges believers to stand firm wearing righteousness as a breastplate and to take salvation as a helmet (Ephesians 6:14, 17), and he uses a similar picture in 1 Thessalonians 5:8. Paul applies to believers the equipment Isaiah first pictured on God Himself.
- Isaiah 59:17 (BSB)“He 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.”The LORD clothes Himself for battle with righteousness, salvation, vengeance, and zeal.
- Ephesians 6:14 (BSB)“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,”Paul tells believers to stand firm wearing righteousness as a breastplate, echoing Isaiah’s image.
- Ephesians 6:17 (BSB)“And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”Paul also tells believers to take salvation as a helmet.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (BSB)“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation.”Paul uses the breastplate and helmet image again for faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
Theological
Whom does 59:17 depict arming Himself for battle?
Answer: The LORD Himself, ready to act
In 59:17 the divine warrior arms Himself: righteousness serves as His breastplate, salvation as His helmet, vengeance as His clothing, and zeal as His cloak. Righteousness and salvation stand beside vengeance because the same intervention rescues the repentant and repays enemies (59:18-20). Paul echoes the imagery when he exhorts believers to stand firm wearing righteousness as a breastplate and to take up salvation as a helmet (Ephesians 6:14, 17; compare 1 Thessalonians 5:8), applying to the church the equipment Isaiah first pictured on God Himself.
- Isaiah 59:17 (BSB)“He 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.”The LORD clothes Himself for battle with righteousness, salvation, vengeance, and zeal.
- Ephesians 6:14 (BSB)“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,”Paul tells believers to stand firm wearing righteousness as a breastplate, echoing Isaiah’s image.
- Ephesians 6:17 (BSB)“And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”Paul also tells believers to take salvation as a helmet.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (BSB)“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation.”Paul uses the breastplate and helmet image again for faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
General
True or False: In 59:9-13 the people speak as “we” and admit that their own sins testify against them.
Answer: True
This is true. Up to 59:8 the prophet speaks about the people as you and they. Then the voice changes: the people themselves say that justice has gone far away, that they grope like the blind and stumble at midday, and that their hopes for light end in darkness (59:9-11). They admit that their transgressions are many before God and that their sins witness against them, and they name rebellion, denial of the LORD, and lying words from the heart (59:12-13). Daniel later prays in the same way (Daniel 9:5), David says he cannot escape the awareness of his sin (Psalm 51:3), and John promises that God, being faithful and just, forgives those who confess (1 John 1:9).
- Isaiah 59:12-13 (BSB)“For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are indeed with us, and we know our iniquities: rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.”The people themselves admit their many transgressions and name their sins.
- Daniel 9:5 (BSB)“we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.”Daniel’s prayer models the same honest, first-person confession of rebellion.
- Psalm 51:3 (BSB)“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”David likewise acknowledges that he knows his transgressions.
- 1 John 1:9 (BSB)“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”Confession of sin is met by God’s faithful and just forgiveness.
Theological
True or False: In 59:9-13 the speech shifts to the first person plural as the people confess their transgressions.
Answer: True
This is true. After the indictment in the second and third person (59:1-8), the people take up the confession themselves: justice and righteousness are far off, and they stumble at noon as if in twilight (59:9-11). Their many transgressions stand as witnesses against them, and they name rebellion against the LORD, turning from Him, and lies conceived in the heart (59:12-13). It is the same honest confession found in Daniel 9:5 and Psalm 51:3, and such confession is met with God’s faithful forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
- Isaiah 59:12-13 (BSB)“For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions are indeed with us, and we know our iniquities: rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.”The people themselves admit their many transgressions and name their sins.
- Daniel 9:5 (BSB)“we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances.”Daniel’s prayer models the same honest, first-person confession of rebellion.
- Psalm 51:3 (BSB)“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”David likewise acknowledges that he knows his transgressions.
- 1 John 1:9 (BSB)“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”Confession of sin is met by God’s faithful and just forgiveness.
General
What do the images of viper eggs and spider webs in 59:5-6 show about the people’s schemes?
Answer: They breed harm and cannot cover the schemers
Isaiah pictures the people’s plotting as hatching viper eggs: whoever eats the eggs dies, and breaking one releases a snake, so their schemes produce only deadly harm for others (59:5). Their work is also like a spider’s web, which can never be woven into a garment, so they cannot clothe themselves with what they have done (59:6). Scripture elsewhere describes the wicked as conceiving trouble and giving birth to evil (Job 15:35; Psalm 7:14), and the later confession in 64:6 admits that even the people’s righteous deeds are like soiled rags. Human works cannot cover human sin; the covering must come from God, as 61:10 later shows.
- Isaiah 59:5-6 (BSB)“They 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. Their 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.”The people’s schemes are pictured as deadly viper eggs and as cobwebs useless for clothing.
- Job 15:35 (BSB)“They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.””Job’s friend uses the same picture of the wicked conceiving trouble and bearing evil.
- Psalm 7:14 (BSB)“Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.”The psalmist likewise says the wicked conceive trouble and give birth to falsehood.
- Isaiah 64:6 (BSB)“Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.”A later confession admits that even the people’s righteous deeds cannot make them clean.
Theological
What is the point of the viper-egg and cobweb imagery in 59:5-6?
Answer: They breed harm and cannot cover the schemers
The two images expose both the fruit and the futility of Judah’s wickedness. Their schemes are viper eggs, lethal to anyone who touches them (59:5), and their works are cobwebs that can never become clothing, so their deeds can never cover them (59:6). The same pattern of conceiving trouble and bearing evil appears in Job 15:35 and Psalm 7:14, and 64:6 likens even the people’s righteous deeds to soiled rags. Sinners cannot clothe themselves; the covering must be God’s gift, as the garments of salvation in 61:10 later show.
- Isaiah 59:5-6 (BSB)“They 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. Their 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.”The people’s schemes are pictured as deadly viper eggs and as cobwebs useless for clothing.
- Job 15:35 (BSB)“They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.””Job’s friend uses the same picture of the wicked conceiving trouble and bearing evil.
- Psalm 7:14 (BSB)“Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.”The psalmist likewise says the wicked conceive trouble and give birth to falsehood.
- Isaiah 64:6 (BSB)“Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.”A later confession admits that even the people’s righteous deeds cannot make them clean.