Yahweh will rescue the people of Judah in spite of the evil things they have done

1Listen to this! Yahweh’s power [MTY] is not ended/gone, with the result that he cannot save you. He has not become deaf [MTY], with the result that he cannot hear you when you call to him for help.

2But, you have separated yourselves from your God by the sins that you have committed.
Because of your sins, he has turned away from you, with the result that he does not pay attention to what you request him to do.

3You do violent things [MTY] to others, with the result that your hands are stained with their blood. You constantly tell [MTY] lies, and you say [MTY] evil things about others.

4When you accuse someone in court, what you say is not fair and it is not true. You accuse people falsely. You are constantly planning to cause trouble for others, and then you do those evil things that you planned.

5What you plan to do to harm people [MET] is as dangerous as the eggs of a ◄cobra/poisonous snake►, because cobras will hatch from those eggs.
You trap people like [MET] spiders trap/catch insects in their webs.

6We people cannot hide/cover our skin with clothes made of spider webs [MET], and similarly you cannot hide the evil things that you have done. You are constantly acting [MTY] violently.

7You [SYN] are very quick to go and do evil things, and you hurry to murder people [MTY] who are innocent. You are continually thinking about sinning. Wherever you go, you destroy things and cause people to suffer.

8You do not know how to act peacefully or to treat others fairly.
You always are ◄dishonest/deceiving others► [MET], and those who imitate your behavior never have any inner peace.

9Because of that, God does not rescue us from our enemies; it seems that he is not acting fairly/righteously toward us. We expect God to give us light, but all he gives us is darkness [DOU].

10We are like [SIM] blind people who have to feel along a wall to be able to walk anywhere. We stumble and trip at noontime like [SIM] we would when it is dark. We are like [SIM] dead people who are among healthy people.

11We growl like [SIM] hungry bears; we continually moan like [SIM] doves. We seek people who do what is just/fair, but we cannot find any anywhere. We want God to rescue us, but it seems that he is far away.

12But these things are happening because it is as though our sins are piled high in the presence of God, and that they testify [PRS] against us. We cannot deny it; we know that we have done many wrong things.

13We know that we have rebelled against Yahweh; we have turned away from him. We ◄oppress people/treat people cruelly► by what we testify against them; we do not allow them to get what they have a right to get. We [SYN] think about the lies that we can tell, and then we tell them.

14In our courts, the judges do not decide cases/matters fairly; no one is acting righteously. In plazas where people gather together, no one tells the truth [PRS]; it seems that people are not allowed to say what is true.

15No one tells the truth, and people try to ruin the reputations of those who quit doing evil.
Yahweh looked around, and he saw that no one was doing what is just/fair, and he was very displeased.

16He was disgusted when he saw that no one tried to help those who were being treated cruelly. So he used his own power [MTY] to rescue them; it is because he is always righteous that he did that [PRS].

17It is as though he is a soldier who [MET] puts on his armor and a helmet; his continually doing what is right is like [MET] his armor, and his ability to rescue people is like his helmet. His being extremely angry and his being ready to get revenge on those who do evil are like [MET] his robes.

18He will repay his enemies for the evil things that they have done. He will severely punish [MTY] even those who live far from Jerusalem.

19When that happens, people everywhere, from the east to the west, will respect and honor Yahweh [MTY], because he will come like [SIM] a rushing river that is pushed along by the strong wind that Yahweh sent.

20And Yahweh says that he will come to Jerusalem to free his people; he will come to rescue those in Judah who have quit ◄doing sinful things/their sinful behavior►.

21This is what Yahweh says to his people: “This is the agreement that I will make with you: My Spirit will not leave you, and you will always have my message. You will be able to declare it [MTY], and your children and grandchildren will be able to declare it forever.”