Isaías 64:8

8 Mas agora, ó Senhor, tu és nosso Pai; nós somos o barro, e tu o nosso oleiro; e todos nós obra das tuas mãos.

Isaías 64:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O Lord, thou art our father
Notwithstanding all that we have done against thee, and thou hast done to us, the relation of a father continues; thou art our Father by creation and adoption; as he was in a particular manner to the Jews, to whom belonged the adoption; and therefore this relation is pleaded, that mercy might be shown them; and so the Targum,

``and thou, Lord, thy mercies towards us "are" many (or let them be many) as a father towards "his" children.''

We are the clay, and thou our potter:
respecting their original formation out of the dust of the earth; and so expressing humility in themselves, and yet ascribing greatness to God, who had curiously formed them, as the potter out of the clay forms vessels for various uses: it may respect their formation as a body politic and ecclesiastic, which arose from small beginnings, under the power and providence of God; see ( Deuteronomy 32:6 ) : and we all are the work of thy hand;
and therefore regard us, and destroy us not; as men do not usually destroy their own works: these relations to God, and circumstances in which they were as creatures, and as a body civil and ecclesiastic, are used as arguments for mercy and favour.

Isaías 64:8 In-Context

6 Pois todos nós somos como o imundo, e todas as nossas justiças como trapo da imundícia; e todos nós murchamos como a folha, e as nossas iniqüidades, como o vento, nos arrebatam.

7 E não há quem invoque o teu nome, que desperte, e te detenha; pois escondeste de nós o teu rosto e nos consumiste, por causa das nossas iniqüidades.

8 Mas agora, ó Senhor, tu és nosso Pai; nós somos o barro, e tu o nosso oleiro; e todos nós obra das tuas mãos.

9 Não te agastes tanto, ó Senhor, nem perpetuamente te lembres da iniqüidade; olha, pois, nós te pedimos, todos nós somos o teu povo.

10 As tuas santas cidades se tornaram em deserto, Sião está feita um ermo, Jerusalém uma desolação.