Isaiah 64:1-7

1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!

2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!

3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked!

4 For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!

5 You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved?

6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.

Isaiah 64:1-7 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. In the Hebrew text this verse is included in 63:19.
• [b]. Verses 64:2-12 are numbered 64:1-11 in Hebrew text.
• [c]. As in Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic versions; Hebrew reads melted us.