Now I will expose your so called good deeds. None of them will help you.

我要指明你的公义；至于你所行的都必与你无益。

我可以宣告你的公义和你的作为，但它们与你无益。

我可以宣告你的公义和你的作为，但它们与你无益。

我要揭露你们的所谓公义行为，它们对你们毫无益处。

我要说明你的公义和你所作的，但它们都必与你无益。

现在我要亲自宣告你的‘义’和作为，但它们对你毫无益处！

我要指明你的公義；至於你所行的都必與你無益。

我可以宣告你的公義和你的作為，但它們與你無益。

我可以宣告你的公義和你的作為，但它們與你無益。

我要揭露你們的所謂公義行為，它們對你們毫無益處。

我要說明你的公義和你所作的，但它們都必與你無益。

我要指明你的「正義」（！）和你所行的事，但這於你也毫無用處。

現在我要親自宣告你的『義』和作為，但它們對你毫無益處！

爾之公義、我將宣之、爾之所為、無益於汝、

爾自稱為義、爾所作為、毫無裨益、余必暴爾。

惟我能告爾何以稱義、亦能示爾所當為及於爾無益者、亦能示爾所當為及於爾無益者或作亦能示爾所行者無益於爾

I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.

You have not done what is right or good. I will let everyone know about it. And that will not be of any benefit to you.

I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you.

I will announce your righteousness, and your works— they will not profit you.

I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, And they will not benefit you.

I will declare your righteousness And your works, For they will not profit you.

I will declare thy righteousness; and as for thy works, they shall not profit thee.

I will expose your righteousness, and your works— they will not profit you.

I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, but they will not help you.

I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you.

“ What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord.“ I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony?Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.

but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones.Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot.Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!”

Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.‘ We have fasted before you!’ they say.‘ Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’“ I will tell you why!” I respond.“ It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?“ No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

“ What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant,“ The Lord’s Temple is here! The Lord’s Temple is here!”But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice;only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols.Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.“‘ Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie!Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours,and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant,“ We are safe!”— only to go right back to all those evils again?Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!

“ Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.

You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved?

What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark!“ The Lord can’t see us,” they say.“ He doesn’t know what’s going on!”

Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark.Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them.They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.

As the Scriptures say,“ No one is righteous— not even one.No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”“ Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies.”“ Snake venom drips from their lips.”“ Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”“ They rush to commit murder.Destruction and misery always follow them.They don’t know where to find peace.”“ They have no fear of God at all.”Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

But those who choose their own ways— delighting in their detestable sins— will not have their offerings accepted. When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it’s as if they had blessed an idol.I will send them great trouble— all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.”

I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.