Isaiah 64:1-9

Prayer for Mercy and Help

1 Oh, that You would rend the heavens and ¹come down, That the mountains might ²quake at Your presence -

2 As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil - To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the ³nations may tremble at Your presence!

3 When You did ⁴awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.

4 For from days of old ⁵they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who ⁶waits for Him.

5 You ⁷meet him who rejoices in ⁸doing righteousness, Who ⁹remembers You in Your ways. Behold, ¹⁰You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?

6 For all of us have become like one who is ¹¹unclean, And all our ¹²righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us ¹³wither like a leaf, And our ¹⁴iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 There is ¹⁵no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have ¹⁶hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

8 But now, O LORD, ¹⁷You are our Father, We are the ¹⁸clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the ¹⁹work of Your hand.

9 Do not be ²⁰angry beyond measure, O LORD, ²¹Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are ²²Your people.

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Isaiah 64:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 64

The prayer of the church is continued in this chapter; in which she prays for some visible display of the power and presence of God, as in times past, Isa 64:1-3, and the rather, since unheard of and unseen things were prepared by the Lord for his people; and it was his usual way to meet those that were truly religious, Isa 64:4,5, and she acknowledges her sins and transgressions; the imperfections of her own righteousness, and remissness in duty, Isa 64:5-7, pleads relation to God, and implores his mercy, Isa 64:8,9, represents the desolate condition of Judea, Zion, Jerusalem, and the temple, and entreats divine commiseration, Isa 64:10-12.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 22

1. Exodus 19:18; Psalms 18:9; Psalms 144:5; Micah 1:3, 4; Habakkuk 3:13
2. Judges 5:5; Psalms 68:8; Nahum 1:5
3. Psalms 99:1; Jeremiah 5:22; Jeremiah 33:9
4. Psalms 65:5; Psalms 66:3, 5; Psalms 106:22
5. 1 Corinthians 2:9
6. Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 30:18; Isaiah 40:31
7. Exodus 20:24
8. Isaiah 56:1
9. Isaiah 26:13; Isaiah 63:7
10. Isaiah 12:1
11. Isaiah 6:5
12. Isaiah 46:12; Isaiah 48:1
13. Psalms 90:5, 6; Isaiah 1:30
14. Isaiah 50:1
15. Isaiah 59:4; Ezekiel 22:30
16. Deuteronomy 31:18; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 54:8
17. Isaiah 63:16
18. Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9
19. Psalms 100:3; Isaiah 60:21
20. Isaiah 57:17; Isaiah 60:10
21. Isaiah 43:25; Micah 7:18
22. Psalms 79:13; Isaiah 63:8

Footnotes 3

[a]. Ch 63:19b in Heb
[b]. Ch 64:1 in Heb
[c]. Reading with the DSS and versions; M.T. "melted"