Isaiah 64
Expanded Bible
64 If only you would tear open the ·skies [heavens] and come down to earth
so that the mountains would ·tremble [shake] before you.
2 Like a fire that ·burns [kindles; ignites] ·twigs [dry wood],
like a fire that makes water boil,
let your ·enemies [adversaries] know ·who you are [L your name].
Then all nations will shake with fear ·when they see you [before you].
3 You have done amazing things ·we did not expect [beyond our expectations].
You came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 From ·long ago [ancient times; of old] no ·one [L ear] has ever heard of a God like you.
No ·one [L eye] has ever seen a God besides you,
who ·helps [acts on behalf of] the people who ·trust [wait for] you.
5 You help those who ·enjoy doing good [joyfully act righteously],
who remember ·how you want them to live [L your ways/paths].
·But [L Look; T Behold] you were angry because we sinned.
For a long time we disobeyed,
so how can we be saved?
6 All of us ·are dirty with sin [became like an unclean/defiled thing].
All ·the right things we have done [our righteous deeds] are like ·filthy pieces of cloth [filthy garments/rags; or a menstrual cloth; 30:22].
All of us ·are [fade; shrivel] like dead leaves,
and our ·sins [iniquities], like the wind, have carried us away.
7 No one ·worships you [L calls on your name]
or ·even asks you to help us [L rouses himself to lay hold of you].
That is because you have ·turned away [hidden your face] from us
and have ·let our sins destroy us [given us over to our sins].[a]
8 But Lord, you are our father.
We are like clay, and you are the potter;
your hands made us all.
9 Lord, don’t continue to be angry with us;
don’t remember our sins forever.
Please, look at us,
because we are your people.
10 Your holy cities ·are empty like the desert [have become a wilderness/wasteland].
·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple] is like a ·desert [wilderness; wasteland];
it is ·destroyed [a desolation].
11 Our ancestors worshiped you
in our holy and wonderful Temple,
but now it has been burned with fire,
and all our ·precious [treasured; pleasant] things have ·been destroyed [become ruins].
12 ·When you see these things [After this], will you hold yourself back from helping us, Lord?
Will you be silent and punish us beyond ·what we can stand [measure]?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:7 let our sins destroy us Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic copies read “given us over to our sins.” Hebrew copies read “caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.”
Isaiah 64
Amplified Bible
Prayer for Mercy and Help
64 Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down,
That the mountains might quake at Your presence—
2
As [sure as] fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3
When You did awesome and amazing things which we did not expect,
You came down [at Sinai]; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4
For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived,
Nor has the eye [a]seen a God besides You,
Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him.
5
You meet him who rejoices in doing that which is morally right,
Who remembers You in Your ways.
Indeed, You were angry, for we sinned;
We have long continued in our sins [prolonging Your anger].
And shall we be saved [under such circumstances]?
6
For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper],
And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags;
We all wither and decay like a leaf,
And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God’s favor, toward destruction].(A)
7
There is no one who calls on Your name,
Who awakens and causes himself to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have handed us over to the [consuming and destructive] power of our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing].(B)
8
Yet, O Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our Potter,
And we all are the work of Your hand.
9
Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord,
Do not remember our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] forever.
Now look, consider, for we are all Your people.
10
[b]Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11
Our holy and beautiful house [the temple built by Solomon],
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been burned by fire;
And all our precious objects are in ruins.
12
Considering these [tragedies], will You restrain Yourself, O Lord [and not help us]?
Will You keep silent and humiliate and oppress us beyond measure?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:4 Or seen, O God, besides You, what He will do.... The ancient rabbis favored this translation or a variation of it, and some suggested that the unexpressed object (what) is wine preserved since the creation, or Eden. They all applied this verse to the future that follows the millennial kingdom, and was mostly a mystery to them. Heaven, or specifically the New Jerusalem, that follows the kingdom was partially revealed to John in Revelation. There is a story in the Talmud that when King Ahasuerus held a great banquet in Susa for seven days (Esth 1:5), he arrogantly asked the Jews if God could do better for them than that. They quoted this line to him in reply, and said that in the time to come if God provided nothing better for them than this feast, they could tell Him that they had already enjoyed such a feast at the table of Ahasuerus.
- Isaiah 64:10 After the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in a.d. 70 it became a religious tradition among the rabbis to recite vv 10 and 11 and to rip a tear in their robes whenever they saw the ruins.
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