Isaiahchapter 59
21 verses · BSBIsaiah book hub →
Speaks with:Romans 3×2Ephesians 6×2Micah 7×2Mark 7×2Jeremiah 32×1Isaiah 50×1
Summary
Chapter summary
Iniquity, not any weakness in Jehovah, blocks salvation: his hand is not shortened nor his ear heavy, but sins have separated the people from their God (vv. 1-2). The indictment piles up images (hands defiled with blood, adders' eggs, spiders' webs, feet running to shed innocent blood) and Paul quotes verses 7-8 in Romans 3:15-17 as evidence of universal sin. The voice shifts to confession: the people grope for the wall like the blind while truth falls in the street (vv. 9-15). Jehovah sees there is no justice and no intercessor, so his own arm brings salvation; he puts on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation (vv. 16-18). "A Redeemer will come to Zion" (v. 20) (quoted in Romans 11:26-27 of Israel's future salvation), sealed by a covenant of Spirit and word that never departs (v. 21).
Context
Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview
- A. 1–8 Your Iniquities Have Separated You from Your God
- B. 9–15 We Grope for the Wall Like the Blind at Noonday
- C. 16–21 He Put On Righteousness as a Breastplate; a Redeemer Comes to Zion
The outline
A.Your Iniquities Have Separated You from Your Godvv. 1 to 8
Read vv. 1 to 8 →B.We Grope for the Wall Like the Blind at Noondayvv. 9 to 15
Read vv. 9 to 15 →C.He Put On Righteousness as a Breastplate; a Redeemer Comes to Zionvv. 16 to 21
Read vv. 16 to 21 →
The world behind this chapter
Isaiah 59The history
The chapter answers a specific suspicion with a physical picture: the LORD's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. A short arm cannot reach, and a heavy ear cannot hear — those are the two failures being denied. The problem is a wall, and the wall is built of what they have done.
The weaving image is the sharpest thing in the chapter. They hatch adders' eggs and weave the spider's web, and then the verdict: their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. A spider's web is real weaving — fine, patterned, skilled — and completely useless as cloth. Anyone who had watched a woman at a loom understood the insult exactly.
The blindness section is a description of walking home in the dark: we grope for the wall like the blind, we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the twilight. Then the sounds — we all growl like bears and moan sadly like doves.
The confession that follows is unusual because it is in the first person plural and it is itemized: transgressing and lying against the LORD, departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is described as standing far off, truth fallen in the street, and the man who turns away from evil making himself a target.
The last section is a soldier arming, and the pieces are named as clothing: righteousness put on like a breastplate, a helmet of salvation on his head, garments of vengeance for clothing, and zeal wrapped around him like a cloak. Paul would later hand that same armor to ordinary believers in his letter to Ephesus.
What it meant to them
The reason God arms himself is stated in one line, and it is a devastating comment on the leadership of the day: he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his own arm brought salvation.
For hearers who had been waiting for someone to stand in the gap, the answer was that nobody would — and that God would not therefore abandon the case. He does it himself.
Sources cited
- Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah (3 vols.)
- John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 (NICOT)
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Isaiah 59. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 7 · Quoted in a chain of verses
Paul's chain of Old Testament indictments in Romans 3 draws “their feet are swift to shed blood” from Isaiah 59:7, the same chapter that later shows the LORD arming himself, breastplate and helmet, when no man will stand (Isa 59:17). The chapter runs from feet swift to shed blood to God putting on armour, and Paul and the armour of Ephesians 6 both draw from it.
Romans 3:15→“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
public-domain commentaries in agreement; cross-checked against the UBS apparatus
v. 17 · An object that pictures Christ · An echo of this verse
The armor of God reworks YHWH's own armor (breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation) onto the believer; the page's structural anchor. Hays A/V/R/TC/HP/HI/S.
Ephesians 6:14→Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,
biblical text
v. 20 · Quoted here
'There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer': climax of Isaiah 59 (the arm of the LORD brings salvation, vv16-17 = the armor); confirms Paul had the chapter live.
Romans 11:26→And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
public-domain commentaries in agreement; cross-checked against the UBS apparatus
v. 21 · Quoted here
FLASHPOINT: 'This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins' (Rom 11:26-27 citing Isa 59:20-21 / 27:9) - dispensational (future national Israel) vs covenantal (elect remnant). strongest case both.
Romans 11:27→And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Vlach08; Wellum22. framework: contested
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.