Bible Strands
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Isaiah addresses the nation of Israel in a prophetic indictment. Verse 1 has just ruled out divine inability; verse 2 names the actual cause of God's silence.
The words — מַבְדִּלִ֔ים (mav.di.Lim), "separating," is the participle of בָּדַל (to divide, to set apart); the BSB's "built barriers" is a rendering choice that adds a spatial metaphor not present in the Hebrew.
The thread — Jeremiah 5:25 mirrors the structure almost exactly: "Your iniquities have diverted these from you." Proverbs 15:29 states the principle; Micah 3:4 carries the "hide His face" language.
Why it lands — The verse is a diagnosis, not a comfort. It forces the reader to ask what specific iniquities — not vague "sin" but the blood, lies, and injustice of verse 3 — are doing the separating work.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Jeremiah 5:25 Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty.
- Micah 3:4 Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
- Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Deuteronomy 31:17 On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’
- Ezekiel 39:23 And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword.
- Deuteronomy 32:19 When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
- Isaiah 57:17 I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.
- Ezekiel 39:29 And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Joshua 7:11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions.