591 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. 5 Eggs of a viper they have hatched, And webs of a spider they weave, Whoso is eating their eggs doth die, And the crushed hatcheth a viper. 6 Their webs become not a garment, Nor do they cover themselves with their works, Their works 'are' works of iniquity, And a deed of violence 'is' in their hands. 7 Their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed innocent blood, Their thoughts 'are' thoughts of iniquity, Spoiling and destruction 'are' in their highways. 8 A way of peace they have not known, And there is no judgment in their paths, Their paths they have made perverse for themselves, No treader in it hath known peace.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 59:1-8
Commentary on Isaiah 59:1-8
(Read Isaiah 59:1-8)
If our prayers are not answered, and the salvation we wait for is not wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying. See here sin in true colours, exceedingly sinful; and see sin in its consequences, exceedingly hurtful, separating from God, and so separating us, not only from all good, but to all evil. Yet numbers feed, to their own destruction, on infidel and wicked systems. Nor can their skill or craft, in devising schemes, as the spider weaves its web, deliver or save them. No schemes of self-wrought salvation shall avail those who despise the Redeemer's robe of righteousness. Every man who is destitute of the Spirit of Christ, runs swiftly to evil of some sort; but those regardless of Divine truth and justice, are strangers to peace.