Isaiah 64
Holman Christian Standard Bible
64 [a]If only You would tear the heavens open
and come down,(A)
so that mountains would quake at Your presence(B)—
2 [b]as fire kindles the brushwood,
and fire causes water to boil—
to make Your name known to Your enemies,
so that nations will tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome works(C)
that we did not expect,
You came down,(D)
and the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened,
no eye has seen any God except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.(E)
5 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?[c]
6 All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted[d] garment;(F)
all of us wither like a leaf,(G)
and our iniquities(H) carry us away like the wind.
7 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[e][f] our iniquity.
8 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)
9 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[g] temple,
where our fathers praised You,
has been burned with fire,
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 severely?(O)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:1 Is 63:19b in Hb
- Isaiah 64:2 Is 64:1 in Hb
- Isaiah 64:5 Lit angry; in them continually and we will be saved; Hb obscure
- Isaiah 64:6 Lit menstrual
- Isaiah 64:7 LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read and delivered us into the hand of
- Isaiah 64:7 Lit melt by the hand
- Isaiah 64:11 Or glorious; Is 60:7
Isaiah 64
International Standard Version
A Prayer for God to Intervene
64 [a]If only you would tear open the heavens and[b] come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2 [c]just as fire sets twigs[d] ablaze
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make known your name to your enemies,
yes, to your enemies before you,[e]
so that the nations might quake at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we expected,[f]
you came down,
and the mountains shuddered before you.
4 Since[g] ancient times no one has heard,
and[h] no ear has perceived,
and[i] no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the aid of those who gladly do what’s right,
To those who remember you in your ways.
See, you were angry,
and we sinned against them for a long time,
but we will be saved.
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and[j] all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind, our iniquities[k] sweep us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name
or rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have given us[l] into the control[m] of our iniquity.
God, our Father, will Act
8 But as for you,[n] O Lord, you are our Father;
and[o] we are clay,[p]
and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hands.[q]
9 Don’t be angry beyond measure, Lord,
and don’t remember our iniquity for a season.[r]
Please look now, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a desert;
Zion has become like[s] a desert,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy Temple and our splendor,
where our ancestors praised you,
have become[t] a conflagration of fire,
and all our dearest places have become[u] ruins.
12 Lord, after all this, can you hold yourself back?
Can you keep silent and punish us so severely?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:1 This v. is 63:19 in the MT
- Isaiah 64:1 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:2 This v. is 64:1 in the MT
- Isaiah 64:2 Or brushwood
- Isaiah 64:2 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads to make your name known to your adversaries
- Isaiah 64:3 So 1QIsaa; MT reads did not expect
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads And since
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:6 So 1QIsaa 4QIsab LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:6 The 1QIsaa utilizes a masculine noun; 1QIsab MT utilize a feminine noun
- Isaiah 64:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads have melted us; LXX reads have delivered us
- Isaiah 64:7 Lit. hand
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read But now
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read the clay
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads your hand
- Isaiah 64:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads for ever
- Isaiah 64:10 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT lack like
- Isaiah 64:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Our holy and glorious Temple … has become
- Isaiah 64:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads all our dearest places has become; MTmss read our every dearest place has become
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
