Isaiah 64
International Standard Version
A Prayer for God to Intervene
64 [a]If only you would tear open the heavens and[b] come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2 [c]just as fire sets twigs[d] ablaze
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make known your name to your enemies,
yes, to your enemies before you,[e]
so that the nations might quake at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we expected,[f]
you came down,
and the mountains shuddered before you.
4 Since[g] ancient times no one has heard,
and[h] no ear has perceived,
and[i] no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the aid of those who gladly do what’s right,
To those who remember you in your ways.
See, you were angry,
and we sinned against them for a long time,
but we will be saved.
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and[j] all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind, our iniquities[k] sweep us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name
or rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have given us[l] into the control[m] of our iniquity.
God, our Father, will Act
8 But as for you,[n] O Lord, you are our Father;
and[o] we are clay,[p]
and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hands.[q]
9 Don’t be angry beyond measure, Lord,
and don’t remember our iniquity for a season.[r]
Please look now, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a desert;
Zion has become like[s] a desert,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy Temple and our splendor,
where our ancestors praised you,
have become[t] a conflagration of fire,
and all our dearest places have become[u] ruins.
12 Lord, after all this, can you hold yourself back?
Can you keep silent and punish us so severely?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:1 This v. is 63:19 in the MT
- Isaiah 64:1 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:2 This v. is 64:1 in the MT
- Isaiah 64:2 Or brushwood
- Isaiah 64:2 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads to make your name known to your adversaries
- Isaiah 64:3 So 1QIsaa; MT reads did not expect
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads And since
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:6 So 1QIsaa 4QIsab LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:6 The 1QIsaa utilizes a masculine noun; 1QIsab MT utilize a feminine noun
- Isaiah 64:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads have melted us; LXX reads have delivered us
- Isaiah 64:7 Lit. hand
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read But now
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read the clay
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads your hand
- Isaiah 64:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads for ever
- Isaiah 64:10 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT lack like
- Isaiah 64:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Our holy and glorious Temple … has become
- Isaiah 64:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads all our dearest places has become; MTmss read our every dearest place has become
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