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16     For you are our father.
Were Abraham not to know us,
    nor Israel to acknowledge us,
You, Lord, are our father,
    our redeemer you are named from of old.
17 Why do you make us wander, Lord, from your ways,
    and harden our hearts so that we do not fear you?[a]
Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.

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Footnotes

  1. 63:17 The hardening of the heart (Ex 4:21; 7:3) serves to explain Israel’s sins—a motif to induce the Lord to relent.

19 [a]Too long have we been like those you do not rule,
    on whom your name is not invoked.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    with the mountains quaking before you,(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 63:19–64:3 A new theophany, like Sinai of old, is invoked so that Israel’s enemies will be humbled by God’s intervention.