Isaiah 64

Holman Christian Standard Bible

64 ^[a]If only You would tear the heavens open
and come down,^(A)
so that mountains would quake at Your presence^(B)—
²^[b]as fire kindles the brushwood,
and fire causes water to boil—
to make Your name known to Your enemies,
so that nations will tremble at Your presence!
³When You did awesome works^(C)
that we did not expect,
You came down,^(D)
and the mountains quaked at Your presence.
⁴From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened,
no eye has seen any God except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.^(E)
⁵You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember You in Your ways.
But we have sinned, and You were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?^[c]
⁶All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted^[d] garment;^(F)
all of us wither like a leaf,^(G)
and our iniquities^(H) carry us away like the wind.
⁷No one calls on Your name,
striving to take hold of You.
For You have hidden Your face from us^(I)
and made us melt because of^[e]^[f] our iniquity.

⁸Yet Lord, You are our Father;^(J)
we are the clay, and You are our potter;
we all are the work of Your hands.^(K)
⁹Lord, do not be terribly angry
or remember our iniquity forever.^(L)
Please look—all of us are Your people!
¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.^(M)
¹¹Our holy and beautiful^[g] temple,
where our fathers praised You,
has been burned with fire,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.^(N)
¹²Lord, after all this, will You restrain Yourself?
Will You keep silent and afflict severely?^(O)