Isaiah 64
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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Isaiah 64
64
A Prayer for God’s Power
1If only You would rend the heavens and come down,
so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
2as fire kindles the brushwood
and causes the water to boil,
to make Your name known to Your enemies,
so that the nations will tremble at Your presence!
3When You did awesome works that we did not expect,
You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.
4From ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides You,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.#64:4 Cited in 1 Corinthians 2:9
5You welcome those who gladly do right,
who remember Your ways.
Surely You were angry, for we sinned.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
6Each of us has become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;#64:6 Or like a stained menstrual garment
we all wither like a leaf,
and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
7No one calls on Your name
or strives to take hold of You.
For You have hidden Your face from us
and delivered us into the hand #64:7 LXX, Syriac, and Targum Yonaton; MT have made us melt in the hand of our iniquity.
8But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
we are the clay, and You are the potter;
we are all the work of Your hand.
9Do not be angry, O Lord, beyond measure;
do not remember our iniquity forever.
Oh, look upon us, we pray;
we are all Your people!
10Your holy cities have become a wilderness.
Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and beautiful temple,
where our fathers praised You,
has been burned with fire,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
12After all this, O Lord,
will You restrain Yourself?
Will You keep silent
and afflict us beyond measure?
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