Isaiah 59:2

2 Rather, your iniquities have been {barriers} between you and your God, and your sins have hidden [his] face from you, from hearing.

Isaiah 59:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
&c.] Like a partition wall dividing between them, so that they enjoy no communion with him in his worship and ordinances; which is greatly the case of the reformed churches: they profess the true God, and the worship of him, and do attend the outward ordinances of it; but this is done in such a cold formal way, and such sins and wickedness are perpetrated and connived at, that the Lord does not grant his gracious presence to them, but stands at a distance from them: and your sins have hid his face from you,
that he will not hear; or have caused him to hide himself; withdraw his gracious presence; neglect the prayers put up to him; deny an answer to them; or, however, not appear as yet for the deliverance and salvation of them, and bringing them into a more comfortable, prosperous, and happy condition.

Isaiah 59:2 In-Context

1 Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short {to save}, and his ear is not [too] dull {to hear}.

2 Rather, your iniquities have been {barriers} between you and your God, and your sins have hidden [his] face from you, from hearing.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue speaks wickedness.

4 There is nobody {who pleads with} justice, and there is nobody who judges with honesty. They rely on nothing and speak vanity. They conceive trouble and beget iniquity;

5 they hatch viper eggs, and they weave a spider web. One who eats their eggs dies, and that which is pressed is hatched [as] a serpent.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "dividers"