Isaiah 64

1 # 64:1 In the Hebrew text this verse is included in 63:19. Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down!

How the mountains would quake in your presence!

2 # 64:2 Verses 64:2-12 are numbered 64:1-11 in Hebrew text. As fire causes wood to burn

and water to boil,

your coming would make the nations tremble.

Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!

3When you came down long ago,

you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations.

And oh, how the mountains quaked!

4For since the world began,

no ear has heard

and no eye has seen a God like you,

who works for those who wait for him!

5You welcome those who gladly do good,

who follow godly ways.

But you have been very angry with us,

for we are not godly.

We are constant sinners;

how can people like us be saved?

6We are all infected and impure with sin.

When we display our righteous deeds,

they are nothing but filthy rags.

Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,

and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

7Yet no one calls on your name

or pleads with you for mercy.

Therefore, you have turned away from us

and turned us over#64:7 As in Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic versions; Hebrew reads melted us. to our sins.

8And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.

We are the clay, and you are the potter.

We all are formed by your hand.

9Don’t be so angry with us, Lord.

Please don’t remember our sins forever.

Look at us, we pray,

and see that we are all your people.

10Your holy cities are destroyed.

Zion is a wilderness;

yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.

11The holy and beautiful Temple

where our ancestors praised you

has been burned down,

and all the things of beauty are destroyed.

12After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us?

Will you continue to be silent and punish us?

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Isaiah 64

Prayer for Mercy and Help

1Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down,

That the mountains might quake at Your presence—

2As [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!

3When You did awesome and amazing things which we did not expect,

You came down [at Sinai]; the mountains quaked at Your presence.

4For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived,

Nor has the eye #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.seen a God besides You,

Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him.

5You 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]?

6For 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].

7There 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].

8Yet, O Lord, You are our Father;

We are the clay, and You our Potter,

And we all are the work of Your hand.

9Do 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 # 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. Your holy cities have become a wilderness,

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11Our 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.

12Considering these [tragedies], will You restrain Yourself, O Lord [and not help us]?

Will You keep silent and humiliate and oppress us beyond measure?

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