Isaiah 64
64
Can We Be Saved?
1-7Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend,
make the mountains shudder at your presence—
As when a forest catches fire,
as when fire makes a pot to boil—
To shock your enemies into facing you,
make the nations shake in their boots!
You did terrible things we never expected,
descended and made the mountains shudder at your presence.
Since before time began
no one has ever imagined,
No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you
who works for those who wait for him.
You meet those who happily do what is right,
who keep a good memory of the way you work.
But how angry you’ve been with us!
We’ve sinned and kept at it so long!
Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved?
We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated.
Our best efforts are grease-stained rags.
We dry up like autumn leaves—
sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind.
No one prays to you
or makes the effort to reach out to you
Because you’ve turned away from us,
left us to stew in our sins.
8-12Still, God, you are our Father.
We’re the clay and you’re our potter:
All of us are what you made us.
Don’t be too angry with us, O God.
Don’t keep a permanent account of wrongdoing.
Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us.
Your holy cities are all ghost towns:
Zion’s a ghost town,
Jerusalem’s a field of weeds.
Our holy and beautiful Temple,
which our ancestors filled with your praises,
Was burned down by fire,
all our lovely parks and gardens in ruins.
In the face of all this,
are you going to sit there unmoved, God?
Aren’t you going to say something?
Haven’t you made us miserable long enough?
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Isaiah 64: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 64
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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