Isaiah 64:1-6

1 Would that you would tear [the] heavens [and] come down; [the] mountains would quake before you,

2 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}.

3 When you did terrible deeds [which] we did not {expect}, you came down; [the] mountains quaked because of your {presence}.

4 And since ancient [times] they have not heard, have not listened, no eye has seen a God except you; he {acts} for the one who waits for him.

5 You 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.

6 And 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.

Isaiah 64:1-6 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Isaiah 64:1 in the English Bible begins here. In the Hebrew Bible, 63:19 continues
• [b]. Isaiah 64:2-12 in the English Bible is 64:1-11 in the Hebrew Bible
• [c]. Literally "face"
• [d]. Literally "await"
• [e]. Literally "face"
• [f]. Literally "makes"