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.

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

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 fire kindleth brushwood, as the fire causeth water to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations might tremble at thy presence!

3 You have done awesome things which we were not expecting you to do; the mountains shook when you came down [at Horeb Mountain].

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

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.

Never have [men] heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor hath eye seen a God beside thee, who acteth for him that waiteth 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.

Thou meetest him that rejoiceth to do righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: (behold, thou wast wroth, and we have sinned: ) in those is perpetuity, and we shall be saved.

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.

And we are all become as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried 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 none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hidden thy face from us, and hast caused us to melt away through our iniquities.

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

And now, Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy 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 wroth very sore, O Jehovah, neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

10 [All of] your towns [in Judah] have become like [MET] deserts; [even] Jerusalem has been destroyed.

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

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 our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire, and all our precious things are laid waste.

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.

Wilt thou restrain thyself in presence of these things, Jehovah? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?