Isaiah 64:5-7

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to[a] our sins.

Isaiah 64:5-7 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.

Cross References 10

  • 1. S Isaiah 26:8
  • 2. S Isaiah 10:4
  • 3. S Leviticus 5:2; S Leviticus 12:2
  • 4. Isaiah 46:12; Isaiah 48:1
  • 5. S Psalms 1:3; Psalms 90:5-6
  • 6. Psalms 1:4; Jeremiah 4:12
  • 7. S Isaiah 41:28; Isaiah 59:4; Isaiah 63:5; Jeremiah 8:6; Ezekiel 22:30
  • 8. S Psalms 14:4
  • 9. Deuteronomy 31:18; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 54:8
  • 10. S Isaiah 9:18; Ezekiel 22:18-22

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew "have made us melt because of"
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