59:4 None calleth for justice, nor [any] b pleadeth for truth:
they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive
mischief, and c bring forth iniquity.
(b) All men wink at the injuries and oppressions and none
go about to remedy them.
(c) According to their wicked devices, they hurt their
neighbours.
59:5 They hatch d eggs of an adder, and weave the spider's e
web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is
crushed breaketh out into a viper.
(d) Whatever comes from them is poison, and brings death.
(e) They are profitable to no purpose.
59:9 Therefore is f judgment far from us, neither doth g
justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold
obscurity; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness.
(f) That is, God's vengeance to punish our enemies.
(g) God's protection to defend us.
59:10 We grope for the wall like the h blind, and we grope as
if [we had] no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the
night; [we are] in desolate places as dead [men].
(h) We are altogether destitute of counsel, and can find
no end to our miseries.
59:11 We all roar like i bears, and mourn bitterly like doves:
we look for judgment, but [there is] none; for salvation,
[but] it is far from us.
(i) We express our sorrows by outward signs, some more and
some less.
59:12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our
k sins testify against us: for our transgressions [are]
with us; and [as for] our iniquities, we know them;
(k) This confession is general to the Church to obtain
remission of sins, and the prophets did not exempt
themselves from the same.
59:13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing
away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of l
falsehood.
(l) That is, against our neighbours.
59:14 And m judgment is turned away backward, and justice
standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and
equity cannot enter.
(m) There is neither justice nor uprightness among men.
59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil
maketh himself n a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it
displeased him that [there was] no judgment.
(n) The wicked will destroy him.
59:16 And he saw that [there was] no man, and wondered that
[there was] no intercessor: o therefore his arm brought
p salvation to him; and his righteousness, it sustained
him.
(o) Meaning, to do justice, and to remedy the things that
were so far out of order.
(p) That is, his Church or his arm helped itself and did
not seek aid from any other.
59:17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an q
helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the
garments of vengeance [for] clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloke.
(q) Signifying that God has all means at hand to deliver
his Church and to punish their enemies.
59:18 According to [their] deeds, accordingly he will repay,
fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the
r isles he will repay recompence.
(r) That is, your enemies who dwell in various places, and
beyond the sea.
59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and
his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall
s come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall
lift up a standard against him.
(s) He shows that there will be great affliction in the
Church, but God will always deliver his.
59:20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to t them that
turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
(t) By which he declares that the true deliverance from
sin and Satan belongs to none but to the children of
God, whom he justifies.
59:21 As for me, this [is] my covenant with them, saith the
LORD; My spirit that [is] upon thee, and my words which I
have put in thy mouth, u shall not depart out of thy
mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the
mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth
and for ever.
(u) Because the doctrine is made profitable by the virtue
of the Spirit, he joins the one with the other, and
promises to give them both to his Church for ever.
