Isaiah 64

1 Did You not tear the heavens? You came down, Mountains flowed from Your presence,

O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you,

2 (As fire kindles stubble—Fire causes water to boil), To make Your Name known to Your adversaries, Nations tremble from Your presence.

As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you;

3 In Your doing fearful things [that] we do not expect, You came down, Mountains flowed from Your presence.

While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past.

4 Even from antiquity [men] have not heard, They have not given ear, Eye has not seen a God except You, He works for those waiting for Him.

The ear has not had news of, or the eye seen, ... any God but you, working for the man who is waiting for him.

5 You have met with the rejoicer And the doer of righteousness, In Your ways they remember You, Behold, You have been angry when we sin, By them [is] continuance, and we are saved.

Will you not have mercy on him who takes pleasure in doing righteousness, even on those who keep in mind your ways? Truly you were angry, and we went on doing evil, and sinning against you in the past.

6 And we are as unclean—all of us, And all our righteous acts [are] as garments of menstruation; And we fade as a leaf—all of us. And our iniquities take us away as wind.

For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.

7 And there is none calling on Your Name, Stirring himself up to lay hold on You, For You have hid Your face from us, And You melt us away by our iniquities.

And there is no one who makes prayer to your name, or who is moved to keep true to you: for your face is veiled from us, and you have given us into the power of our sins.

8 And now, O YHWH, You [are] our Father, We [are] the clay, and You [are] our Framer, And the work of Your hand—all of us.

But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand.

9 Do not be angry, O YHWH, very severely, Nor remember iniquity forever, Behold, look attentively, we implore You, We [are] all Your people.

Be not very angry, O Lord, and do not keep our sins in mind for ever: give ear to our prayer, for we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have been a wilderness, Zion has been a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Your holy towns have become a waste, Zion has become a waste, Jerusalem is a mass of broken walls.

11 Our holy and our beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has become burned with fire, And all our desirable things have become a ruin.

Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction.

12 Do You refrain Yourself for these, YHWH? You are silent, and afflict us very severely!

In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?