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.
Parallel translations
- WEB But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
- KJV But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
- NKJV But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
- NASB But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
- NLT It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
It is their iniquities and sins that have separated them from God and hidden His face. Sin, not divine weakness, severs fellowship with God.
Overview
The prophet names the true barrier: the people's sins have built a wall between them and God so that He hides His face and does not hear. This verse classically expresses the alienating power of sin. It clarifies humanity's deepest need and the reason for the cross, where Christ removes the barrier of sin to reconcile sinners to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 15:29The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Jer 5:25Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty.
- Mic 3:4Then 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.
- Isa 1:15When 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.
- Deut 31:17–18On 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?’
- Ezek 39:23–24And 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.
- Deut 32:19–20When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
- Isa 57:17I 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.
- Ezek 39:29And 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.”
- Josh 7:11Israel 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.
- Isa 58:4You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.
- Isa 50:1This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 59:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.