64 If only you would tear the heavens open
and come down,(A)
so that mountains would quake at your presence(B)
just as fire kindles brushwood,
and fire boils water—
to make your name known to your enemies,
so that nations would tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome works(C)
that we did not expect,
you came down,(D)
and the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened to,
no eye has seen any God except you
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him.(E)
You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember you in your ways.
But we have sinned, and you were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?[a]
All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted[b] garment;(F)
all of us wither like a leaf,(G)
and our iniquities(H) carry us away like the wind.
No one calls on your name,
striving to take hold of you.
For you have hidden your face from us(I)
and made us melt because of[c][d] our iniquity.
Yet Lord, you are our Father;(J)
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we all are the work of your hands.(K)
Lord, do not be terribly angry
or remember our iniquity forever.(L)
Please look—all of us are your people!
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.(M)
11 Our holy and beautiful[e] temple,
where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned down,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.(N)
12 Lord, after all this, will you restrain yourself?
Will you keep silent and afflict us severely?(O)

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Footnotes

  1. 64:5 Lit angry; in them continually and we will be saved; Hb obscure
  2. 64:6 Lit menstrual
  3. 64:7 LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read and delivered us into the hand of
  4. 64:7 Lit melt by the hand of
  5. 64:11 Or glorious; Is 60:7

64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—(A)
[a]as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!(B)
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
    you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.(C)
From ages past no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who works for those who wait for him.(D)
You meet those who gladly do right,
    those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
    because you hid yourself we transgressed.[b](E)
We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.(F)
There is no one who calls on your name
    or attempts to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
    and have delivered[c] us into the hand of our iniquity.(G)
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.(H)
Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
    and do not remember iniquity forever.
    Now consider, we are all your people.(I)
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.(J)
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
    where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.(K)
12 After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent and punish us so severely?(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 64.2 64.1 in Heb
  2. 64.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 64.7 Gk Syr OL Tg: Heb melted