Isaiah 64
1 I wish that you would rend the heavens, and then descend! The mountains would flow away before your face.
Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, — that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2 They would melt, as if thoroughly burned by fire. The waters would burn with fire, so that your name might be made known to your enemies, so that the nations would be stirred up before your face.
— 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 When you will perform miracles, we will not be able to withstand them. You descended, and the mountains flowed away before your presence.
When thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, thou camest down, and the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
4 From ages past, they have not heard it, and they have not perceived it with the ears. Apart from you, O God, the eye has not seen what you have prepared for those who await 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 have met with those who rejoice in doing justice. By your ways, they will remember you. Behold, you have been angry, for we have sinned. In this, we have continued, but we will 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 And we have all become like the unclean. And all our justices are like a rag of menstruation. And we have all fallen away, like a leaf. And our iniquities have carried us away, like 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 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rises up and holds fast to you. You have concealed your face from us, and you have crushed us with the hand of our own iniquity.
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 And now, O Lord, you are our Father, yet truly, we are clay. And you are our Maker, and we are all the works of your hands.
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 Do not be so angry, O Lord, and no longer call to mind our iniquity. Behold, consider 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 The city of your sanctuary has become a desert. Zion has become a desert. Jerusalem is desolate.
Thy holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 The house of our sanctification and of our glory, where our fathers praised you, has been completely consumed by fire, and all our admirable things have been turned into ruins.
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 Should you restrain yourself, O Lord, concerning these things? Should you remain silent, and afflict us vehemently?
Wilt thou restrain thyself in presence of these things, Jehovah? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
