Isaiah 64

If only you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would shake in front of you,

1Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

NoteIn Hebrew Bibles this verse is counted as the second half of 63:19, so from here to the end of the chapter the verse numbers in Hebrew editions run one behind the numbering used here. Mountains shaking or melting at a god's arrival is standard imagery in ancient Near Eastern poetry for a divine appearance, described in the language of storm, fire and earthquake.

2the way fire sets dry brush blazing, the way fire makes water boil. Come down like that, so your enemies learn who you are, and the nations shake in front of you.

2As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

NoteKJV's "melting fire" and the modern "brushwood" or "dry brush" are two readings of the same Hebrew word, which is spelled like the word for "melting" but is usually taken now as the name for kindling or twigs. Either way the picture is the same: a fire hot enough to make water boil.

3In the past you did frightening things that we did not expect. You came down, and the mountains shook in front of you.

3When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

Note"Terrible" in 1611 English meant awe-inspiring or terrifying, things that make people afraid, not "very bad" as it does today.

4From long ago no one has heard, no ear has caught, no eye has seen any God except you, who acts for the person who waits for him.

4For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

NoteThe last clause is read two ways. KJV takes it as "what God has prepared for those who wait for him" (the things themselves are unheard of); the reading behind the plain rendering takes it as "who acts for those who wait for him" (no other God has ever been seen acting this way). The Hebrew allows both. This verse, in a form close to KJV's, is quoted in 1 Corinthians 2:9.

5You come to meet the person who is glad to do what is right, the people who keep your ways in mind. But look, you were angry, because we sinned. We stayed in our sins a long time. Can we be saved?

5Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

NoteThe second half of this verse is one of the most obscure sentences in the book. KJV's "in those is continuance, and we shall be saved" reads the Hebrew as a statement of hope; other readings make it a question, how can we be saved if we go on like this? The plain rendering keeps the question open because the Hebrew itself is unclear.

6All of us have become like something unclean, and everything we did right is like a filthy rag. We all dry up like a leaf, and our sins carry us off like the wind.

6But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Note"Unclean" is a ritual term, not a moral or hygienic one: it describes a person or thing that is temporarily unfit to take part in worship. "Filthy rags" translates a Hebrew phrase that means, specifically, a cloth stained with menstrual blood, the strongest available image of something that cannot be brought near the sanctuary. "Fade as a leaf" means to dry up and shrivel, as leaves do before they fall.

7No one calls on your name. No one rouses himself to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us, and you have made us melt away, handing us over to our own sins.

7And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

Note"Hide your face" is a standard Hebrew idiom for withdrawing attention and favor, the opposite of turning toward someone; it does not suggest concealment. The end of the verse differs between versions: the Hebrew as written says "you have melted us because of our iniquities," while the ancient Greek and Syriac translations read "you have handed us over to our iniquities", the reading behind the plain rendering.

8But now, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. All of us are the work of your hand.

8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

NoteIn Hebrew usage a "father" is often the originator or maker of a family, a line or a trade, not only a parent. The potter shapes wet clay by hand on a wheel into vessels; the point of the image is that the material takes whatever form the maker gives it.

9LORD, do not stay angry past all measure. Do not remember our sin forever. Please look at us, we beg you. We are all your people.

9Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

10Your holy cities have turned into empty country. Zion is empty land. Jerusalem lies in ruins.

10Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Note"Holy cities" means the towns of Judah, the land set apart to the LORD. Zion was originally the fortified hill in Jerusalem and came to stand for the temple mount and for the city as a whole.

11Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned to the ground, and everything we treasured lies in ruins.

11Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

Note"Our holy and beautiful house" is the temple in Jerusalem, burned by the Babylonian army when the city fell in 587 BC. "Our fathers" means ancestors, earlier generations, not the speakers' own parents.

12After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you stay silent and afflict us past all measure?

12Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

Note"Hold thy peace" is older English for "stay silent", here, refusing to answer or act.