Isaiah 64:1-11

1 ¹Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, ²that the mountains might quake at your presence--

2 ^[a] as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- ³to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

3 ⁴When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 ⁵From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, ⁶no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?^[b]

6 ⁷We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. ⁸We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 ⁹There 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^[c] the hand of our iniquities.

8 ¹⁰But now, O LORD, you are our Father; ¹¹we are the clay, and you are our potter; ¹²we are all the work of your hand.

9 ¹³Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, ¹⁴and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

10 ¹⁵Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11 ¹⁶Our holy and beautiful^[d] house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

Isaiah 64:1-11 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

• 1. [2 Samuel 22:10; Psalms 18:9; Psalms 144:5]
• 2. Judges 5:5; Micah 1:4
• 3. [Joshua 2:9, 10]
• 4. [Exodus 14:13; Exodus 15:11]
• 5. [Psalms 31:19]
• 6. [1 Corinthians 2:9]
• 7. See Isaiah 59:12-15
• 8. Psalms 90:5, 6
• 9. Isaiah 43:22; Hosea 7:7
• 10. Isaiah 63:16
• 11. Isaiah 45:9; Romans 9:20, 21
• 12. Isaiah 29:23; Isaiah 45:11
• 13. [Isaiah 57:16; Psalms 74:1, 2]
• 14. Psalms 79:8
• 15. Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 2:3
• 16. Haggai 1:9; Haggai 2:3; [2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Psalms 74:7]

Footnotes

• [a]. Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
• [b]. Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
• [c]. Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
• [d]. Or holy and glorious