Isaiah 59:1–8, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Isaiah 59:1–8
Violence and Falsehood, Not Divine Weakness, Block Communion
The arm is not too short; the hands are too bloody
The problem is not divine hearing loss. Iniquities have made a separation. Hands are defiled with blood, lips speak lies, tongues mutter wickedness. No one sues justly; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. Eggs and webs: eat and die, or get caught. Feet run to evil; they rush to shed innocent blood. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their tracks.
Social diagnosis is total: courts, speech, schemes, streets. Separation from God is the theological name for a community that cannot walk peace. Do not spend this as a partisan weapon, as punitive control, or as a way to shout about others' blood while ignoring the people our own systems harm.
Webs that cannot become clothing matter: unjust work is busy and still does not cover anyone. A warranted life is to tell the truth about our hands, to rebuild tracks where peace can actually be walked, and to stop blaming God's deafness for a silence we have created.
How this should shape us
Tell the truth about bloody hands and lying courts instead of blaming God's deafness. Rebuild tracks where peace can actually be walked, starting with the harm your own systems do.
Teach it back
Explain Isaiah 59:1–8 in your own words. Name its place in Isaiah, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Isaiah 59:1–8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 59:1–8 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 59:1–8 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 3A and themes of justice, worship, and return; applied to Isaiah 59:1–8
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 59:1–8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 59:1–8 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Isaiah
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 59:1–8 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Open the official NET Isaiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception
Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 3A and themes of justice, worship, and return; applied to Isaiah 59:1–8
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