64 (A)Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    (B)that the mountains might quake at your presence—
[a] as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
(C)to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
(D)When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
(E)From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
(F)no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?[b]
(G)We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
(H)We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
(I)There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in[c] the hand of our iniquities.

(J)But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    (K)we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    (L)we are all the work of your hand.
(M)Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
    (N)and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 (O)Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.
11 (P)Our holy and beautiful[d] house,
    where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 (Q)Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
  2. Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
  3. Isaiah 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
  4. Isaiah 64:11 Or holy and glorious

64 O, that Thou wouldest rend Shomayim, that Thou wouldest come down, so that the harim might shake at Thy presence,

(64:1) As eish burneth brushwood, eish causeth the mayim to boil, [O, that Thou wouldst come down] to make Thy Shem known to Thine adversaries, that the Goyim might tremble at Thy presence!

(2) When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the harim shook at Thy presence.

(3) For me’olam (since ancient times) no one hath heard, nor perceived by the ozen, neither hath the ayin seen any Elohim besides Thee, Who acts on behalf of him that waiteth for Him.

(4) Thou meetest with him that rejoiceth to work tzedek, those that remember Thee in Thy drakhim; see, Thou art in wrath; for we have been in sins; in them a long time, and shall we be saved?

(5) But we are all as the tameh (unclean thing), and kol tzidkoteinu (all our righteousness, our righteous deeds, works) are like beged iddim (filthy rags, a garment of menstruation); and we all do fade like the aleh (leaf); and avoneinu (our iniquities), like the ruach, have taken us away.

(6) And there is none that calleth upon Thy Shem, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee; for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of avoneinu.

(7) But now, Hashem, Thou art Avinu (Our Father); we are the chomer (clay), and Thou, Yotzreinu (our Potter, Maker, Creator); and we all are the ma’aseh (work) of Thy yad.

(8) Be not in wrath ad me’od, Hashem, neither remember avon forever; behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all Thy people.

10 (9) Arei Kadsheicha (Thy holy cities) are a midbar, Tziyon is a midbar, Yerushalayim, a desolation.

11 (10) Beis Kadsheinu v’Tifarteinu, where Avoteinu praised Thee, is burned up with eish; and kol machamadeinu (all our desiring) is in ruins.

12 (11) Wilt Thou refrain Thyself after these things, Hashem? Wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us ad me’od?