Isaiah 59: The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion

"Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies… None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth" (59:1–4).

"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings" (vv. 7–8). "Therefore is judgment far from us… we wait for light, but behold obscurity… We grope for the wall like the blind… we roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves… And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter" (vv. 9–14).

"And the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing… So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun" (vv. 15–19).

"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed… from henceforth and for ever" (vv. 20–21).

Justice at the gate

In Israelite towns legal cases were heard by elders at the city gate and in the adjoining square (Deuteronomy 21:19; Ruth 4:1–11; Amos 5:10, 15). Excavated gates, such as those at Tel Dan, Megiddo and Gezer, have benches and open plazas. When Isaiah 59:14 says that "truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter," it pictures justice personified, unable to get through the gate where justice was done.

The divine warrior's armor

God dresses for battle in 59:17: righteousness as breastplate, salvation as helmet, vengeance as garment, zeal as cloak. The Wisdom of Solomon 5:17–20 (1st century BC) develops the image; Paul gives "the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation" to believers (1 Thessalonians 5:8), and Ephesians 6:14–17 "the breastplate of righteousness… the helmet of salvation." Each writer changes the image: in Isaiah God fights because no human will; in the letters believers wear the armor. The same warrior returns, stained, in 63:1–6.

Romans 11:26–27

Paul quotes 59:20–21 to support "all Israel shall be saved": "There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." The Hebrew has "to Zion" and "to those who turn from transgression"; the library's Greek has "for the sake of Zion" and "he will turn away ungodliness"; Paul has "out of Zion" and adds Isaiah 27:9. Each change shifts who acts and where the redeemer comes from. See the passage page.

Spirit and word for ever

Verse 21 promises that God's spirit and words will remain in the mouth of the addressee and his descendants "from henceforth and for ever." It has been read of the prophet and his disciples (compare 8:16; 50:4), of the people as bearers of revelation, and, in Christian reading, of the Spirit given to the church. The text does not specify.