Bible Strands
Isaiah 59:9
Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks on behalf of the people of Judah, summarizing their collective spiritual condition following the catalog of their sins and God's intervening response.
The words — The text emphasizes רָחַק (raChak, "it is far") and תַשּׂיגֵנוּ (taSiGenu, "it reaches us") to state that justice and righteousness remain distant and unattainable.
The thread — This pattern of anticipated relief yielding only darkness or terror appears in Job 30:26 and Jeremiah 8:15, where hoped-for peace or light is replaced by its opposite.
Why it lands — The passage demands acknowledgment of spiritual blindness and the failure of human effort to achieve moral clarity or divine favor.
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
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 5:30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
- Job 30:26 But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
- Jeremiah 8:15 We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
- Jeremiah 14:19 Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.
- Lamentations 5:16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
- Amos 5:18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
- Micah 1:12 For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem.
- Habakkuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3 While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.