Passage

Isaiah 59.2

Book: Isaiah · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:"

"2. but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear."

"3. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue muttereth wickedness. 4. None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity." (Isaiah 59:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear."

"2. But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."

"3. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. 4. No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity." (Isaiah 59:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:"

"2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. ^{have hid: or, have made him hide}"

"3. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity." (Isaiah 59:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Lo, the hand of Jehovah Hath not been shortened from saving, Nor heavy his ear from hearing."

"2. But your iniquities have been separating Between you and your God, And your sins have hidden The Presence from you, from hearing."

"3. For your hands have been polluted with blood, And your fingers with iniquity, Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue perverseness doth mutter. 4. There is none calling in righteousness, And there is none pleading in faithfulness, Trusting on emptiness, and speaking falsehood, Conceiving perverseness, and bearing iniquity." (Isaiah 59:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.