Footnotes

1. Isaiah 64:1 sn In BHS the chapter division occurs in a different place from the English Bible: 64:1 ET (63:19b HT) and 64:2-12 (64:1-11 HT). Beginning with 65:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
2. Isaiah 64:1 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
3. Isaiah 64:1 tn Or “quake.” נָזֹלּוּ (nazollu) is from the verbal root זָלַל (zalal, “quake”; see HALOT 272 s.v. II זלל). Perhaps there is a verbal allusion to Judg 5:5, the only other passage where this verb occurs. In that passage the poet tells how the Lord’s appearance to do battle caused the mountains to shake.
4. Isaiah 64:2 tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”
5. Isaiah 64:3 tn Heb “[for which] we were not waiting.”
6. Isaiah 64:3 tn See the note at v. 1.
7. Isaiah 64:4 tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”
8. Isaiah 64:5 tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”
9. Isaiah 64:5 tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”
10. Isaiah 64:5 tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”
11. Isaiah 64:5 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry, and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context—God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirshaʿ, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).
12. Isaiah 64:6 tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”
13. Isaiah 64:7 tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”
14. Isaiah 64:7 tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”
15. Isaiah 64:7 tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”
16. Isaiah 64:7 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vatt^emugenu) is a Qal preterite second person masculine singular with a first person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vatt^emog^egenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vatt^emagg^enenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite second person masculine singular with a first person common plural suffix from the verb מָגָן (magan, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.
17. Isaiah 64:8 tn On the force of וְעַתָּה (v^eʿattah) here, see HALOT 902 s.v. עַתָּה.
18. Isaiah 64:8 tn Heb “the work of your hand.”
19. Isaiah 64:9 tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”
20. Isaiah 64:9 tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”
21. Isaiah 64:10 tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”
22. Isaiah 64:11 tn Heb “our source of pride.”
23. Isaiah 64:11 tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”
24. Isaiah 64:12 tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”