Isaiah 59:3

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

Key Reflection

Isaiah 59:2-3 teaches that sin creates a barrier between humanity and God, metaphorically separating them by an invisible wall of iniquity. The consequences are twofold: these sins not only alienate us from God but also cause Him to turn away His face, rendering His ear unclosed to our prayers due to the presence of our transgressions.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

For your hands are defiled with blood -The prophet proceeds here more particularly to specify the sins of which they were guilty; and in order to show the extent and depth of their depravity, he specifies the various members of the body - the hands, the fingers, the lips, the tongue, the feet as the agents by which people commit iniquity. See a similar argument on the subject of depravity inRomans 3:13-15, where a part of the description which the prophet here gives is quoted by Paul, and applied to the Jews in his own time. The phrase ‘your hands are defiled with blood,’ means with the blood of the innocent; that is, they were guilty of murder, oppression, and cruelty.

More from Isaiah 59

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