Isaiah 59

This chapter belongs to the latter part of Isaiah. Continuing the rebuke concerning fasting and the Sabbath in Isaiah 58, it addresses why the people's prayers go unanswered.

Structure

• Verses 1–8 The chapter declares that the LORD's hand is not short, nor is his ear dull; rather, the people's iniquities have separated them from God. The passage indicts bloodshed, lying, and unjust judgment, and compares the people's deeds to "cockatrice' eggs" (that is, vipers' eggs) and "the spider's web."
• Verses 9–15a The speaker shifts to "we." The people lament that they look for light yet grope for the wall like the blind in darkness, and they confess that justice and righteousness are far from them because of their own transgressions.
• Verses 15b–19 The LORD sees that there is no justice and no intercessor. He therefore sets out to bring salvation himself, taking righteousness as a breastplate and salvation as a helmet. He repays his enemies, so that from the west and from the rising of the sun people will fear his name.
• Verses 20–21 The Redeemer comes to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression. A covenant is given: the LORD's Spirit and words will not depart from their mouths, nor from the mouths of their descendants, from generation to generation.

Key Verses

• Isaiah 59:1–2: "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save … But your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (KJV). This is a classic expression of how sin severs the relationship with God.
• Isaiah 59:17: "For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head." This verse is linked to the New Testament imagery of the whole armor of God.
• Isaiah 59:20–21: "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion." Paul quotes this passage in Romans.

Figures and Places

• The LORD: Portrayed both as the one who brings the indictment and as the warrior who goes forth in person to save.
• The Redeemer: One who pays a price to reclaim (Hebrew go'el). It is the same word rendered kinsman-redeemer.
• Zion: A name referring to both Jerusalem and the people of God.
• Jacob: Here it denotes the descendants of Jacob, that is, the people of Israel as a whole.

Points for Reflection

• Critical scholarship commonly regards chapters 56–66 as "Third Isaiah," dating from after the return from exile. Conservative denominational theology accepts them as the work of the prophet Isaiah.
• In Romans 3:15–17, Paul quotes verses 7–8 to testify to the sinfulness of all people. In Romans 11:26–27 he quotes verses 20–21 in a form close to the Septuagint, so that the wording differs from the Hebrew text: "There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Interpreters are divided over the salvation of "all Israel" mentioned alongside this quotation: some read it as a future conversion of ethnic Israel, others as referring to the church as a whole.
• The armor imagery of verse 17 is applied to the believer's spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:10–18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8.
• Where the older Korean Revised Version renders "my spirit" in verse 21 with a term that can also mean "god," the New Korean Revised Version renders it unambiguously as "my Spirit." Christian interpretation sometimes connects this verse with the new covenant and the promise of the Holy Spirit.

In the Korean Church

Verses 1–2 are frequently cited in sermons on repentance and answered prayer.