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?

Read full chapter

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 [a] If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
    Mountains would quake before you
    like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil.
[b] If you would make your name known to your enemies,
    the nations would tremble in your presence.

When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations;
    when you came down, mountains quaked before you.
From ancient times,
    no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
    no eye has seen any god but you
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him![c]
You look after those who gladly do right;
    they will praise you for your ways.[d]
But you were angry when we sinned;
    you hid yourself when we did wrong.[e]
We have all become like the unclean;
    all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag.
All of us wither like a leaf;
    our sins, like the wind, carry us away.
No one calls on your name;
    no one bothers to hold on to you,
    for you have hidden yourself from us,
    and have handed us over[f] to our sin.

But now, Lord, you are our father.
    We are the clay, and you are our potter.
    All of us are the work of your hand.
Don’t rage so fiercely, Lord;
    don’t hold our sins against us forever,
    but gaze now on your people, all of us:
10     Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a wasteland.
11 Our holy, glorious house,
    where our ancestors praised you,
    has gone up in flames;
    all that we treasured has become a ruin.
12 After all this, will you hold back, Lord?
    Will you keep silent and torment us so terribly?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 64:1 63:19b in Heb
  2. Isaiah 64:2 64:1 in Heb
  3. Isaiah 64:4 Heb uncertain
  4. Isaiah 64:5 Heb uncertain
  5. Isaiah 64:5 Heb uncertain
  6. Isaiah 64:7 LXX, cf Syr, Tg, Vulg; MT melted