Isaiah 64:5-12

5 You help those who enjoy doing good, who remember how you want them to live. But you were angry because we sinned. For a long time we disobeyed, so how can we be saved?

6 All of us are dirty with sin. All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth. All of us are like dead leaves, and our sins, like the wind, have carried us away.

7 No one worships you or even asks you to help us. That is because you have turned away from us and have let our sins destroy us.

8 But Lord, you are our father. We are like clay, and you are the potter; your hands made us all.

9 Lord, don't continue to be angry with us; don't remember our sins forever. Please, look at us, because we are your people.

10 Your holy cities are empty like the desert. Jerusalem is like a desert; it is destroyed.

11 Our ancestors worshiped you in our holy and wonderful Temple, but now it has been burned with fire, and all our precious things have been destroyed.

12 When you see these things, will you hold yourself back from helping us, Lord? Will you be silent and punish us beyond what we can stand?

Isaiah 64:5-12 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.