Isaiah 59:4

“Let him not believe in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness will be his reward,

“They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness, And their belly prepares deception.”

Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and gives birth to falsehood.

Who think up evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars.

Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of worthlessness, And sin as if with cart ropes,

The head is the elder and the highly respected man, And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record mischief,

We were with child, we writhed in labor; We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind. We could not accomplish salvation for the earth, And the inhabitants of the world were not born.

Because you have said, “We have cut a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying.”

For the ruthless will come to an end and the scoffer will be finished, Indeed all who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;

For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who are not willing to listen To the law of Yahweh,

“You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble; My breath will consume you like a fire.

He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver his soul, and he cannot say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

“You felt secure in your evil and said, ‘No one sees me,’ Your wisdom and your knowledge have turned you astray; So you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’

Transgressing and denying Yahweh, And turning back from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.

There is no one who calls on Your name, Who awakens himself to take hold of You, For You have hidden Your face from us And have melted us into the hand of our iniquities.

“They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and unfaithfulness prevail in the land, For they go onward from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” declares Yahweh.

“For because of your trust in your own works and treasures, Even you yourself will be captured; And Chemosh will go off into exile Together with his priests and his princes.

Jerusalem sinned greatly; Therefore she has become an impure thing. All who honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she herself sighs and turns away.

Listen to the word of Yahweh, O sons of Israel, For Yahweh has a contention against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no truth or lovingkindness Or knowledge of God in the land.

Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death.