Isaiah 64:8

8 ¹But now, O Lord, you are our Father; ²we are the clay, and you are our potter; ³we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 64:8 In-Context

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Cross References

• 1. 64:8 ch. 63:16
• 2. 64:8 ch. 45:9; Rom. 9:20, 21
• 3. 64:8 ch. 29:23; 45:11