Isaiah 64

1 “[Yahweh], I wish that you would tear open the sky and come down, and cause the mountains to shake in your presence.

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

2 [Be] like a fire that burns twigs and causes water to boil! [Come down] in order that your enemies will know who you are, and the [people of other] nations will tremble in 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 You have done awesome things which we were not expecting you to do; the mountains shook when you came down [at Horeb Mountain].

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 Since (long ago/the world began), no one [SYN] has [ever] seen or heard about a God like you; you help those who (depend on/trust in) you.

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 help those who joyfully do what is right, those who conduct their lives as you want them to. But [we did not do that]; we continued to sin, and so you became angry with us. We have been sinning for a long time, so only if we continually do what you want us to do will we be 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 We have all become people who are not fit to worship you; all of the good things that we have done are only like [SIM] filthy/blood-stained rags. Because of our sins, we are like [SIM] leaves that dry up and are blown away by the 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 None [of our people] worships you, and no one is completely dedicated to [IDM] you. You have turned away from us. [It is as though] you have caused us to be forced to continue our sinful behavior.

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 Yahweh, you are our father. We are [like] [MET] clay, and you created us, [like] [MET] a potter [creates pottery].

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 Yahweh, do not continue to be angry [with us]; do not keep thinking about [our] sins forever. Do not forget that 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 [All of] your towns [in Judah] have become like [MET] deserts; [even] Jerusalem has been destroyed.

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

11 Your glorious temple on Zion Hill, where our ancestors worshiped you, has been destroyed by fire. And all our [other] beautiful things have been ruined.

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 Yahweh, you see all those things, so we worry that you will refrain [from helping us], and that you will cause us to suffer much more.

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