New International Version NIV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
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Don't think that the Lord is too weak to save you or too deaf to hear your call for help!
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
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It is because of your sins that he doesn't hear you. It is your sins that separate you from God when you try to worship him.
3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
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You are guilty of lying, violence, and murder.
4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
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You go to court, but you do not have justice on your side. You depend on lies to win your case. You carry out your plans to hurt others.
5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
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The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake! But your plots will do you no good - they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs!
6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways.
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You are always planning something evil, and you can hardly wait to do it. You never hesitate to murder innocent people. You leave ruin and destruction wherever you go,
8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.
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and no one is safe when you are around. Everything you do is unjust. You follow a crooked path, and no one who walks that path will ever be safe.
9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
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The people say, "Now we know why God does not save us from those who oppress us. We hope for light to walk by, but there is only darkness,
10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.
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and we grope about like blind people. We stumble at noon, as if it were night, as if we were in the dark world of the dead.
11 We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.
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We are frightened and distressed. We long for God to save us from oppression and wrong, but nothing happens.
12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:
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"Lord, our crimes against you are many. Our sins accuse us. We are well aware of them all.
13 rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
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We have rebelled against you, rejected you, and refused to follow you. We have oppressed others and turned away from you. Our thoughts are false; our words are lies.
14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.
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Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near. Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there.
15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
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There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime." The Lord has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice.
16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
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He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So he will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory.
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
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He will wear justice like a coat of armor and saving power like a helmet. He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer.
18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due.
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He will punish his enemies according to what they have done, even those who live in distant lands.
19 From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along.
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From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.
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The Lord says to his people, "I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the LORD.
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And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come."
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.