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
1 #Isaiah 64:1 in the English Bible begins here. In the Hebrew Bible, 63:19 continues Would that you would tear the heavens and come down;
the mountains would quake before you,
2#Isaiah 64:2–12 in the English Bible is 64:1–11 in the Hebrew Bible as fire kindles brushwood,
the fire causes water to boil,
to make your name known to your adversaries,
that the nations might tremble from your presence.#Literally “face”
3When you did terrible deeds which we did not expect,#Literally “await” you came down;
the mountains quaked because of your presence.#Literally “face”
4And since ancient times they have not heard,
have not listened,
no eye has seen a God except you;
he acts#Literally “makes” for the one who waits for him.
5You meet with the one who rejoices,
one who does righteousness.
In your ways they remember you.
Look! You were angry and we sinned against them in ancient times and we were saved.
6And we all have become like the unclean,
and all our deeds of justice like a menstrual cloth,
And we all wither like a leaf,
and our iniquities take us away like the wind.
7And there is no one who calls on your name,
who pulls himself up to keep hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us,#Or “him”
and melted us into the hand of our iniquity.
8Yet now Yahweh, you are our father;
we are the clay and you are our potter,#Literally “one who fashions”
and we all are the work of your hand.
9You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh,
and you must not remember iniquity forever!
Look! Behold, now! We all are your people!
10Your holy cities#Literally “The cities of your holiness” have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and beautiful temple,#Literally “the house of our holiness and our beauty” where our ancestors#Or “fathers” praised you has been burned#Literally “been for burning” by fire,
and all our precious objects have become ruins.#Hebrew “ruin”
12Will you control yourself because of these, Yahweh?
Will you be silent?
And will you oppress us exceedingly?
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