Isaiah 64
1 That thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down: the mountains would melt away at thy presence.
“[Yahweh], I wish that you would tear open the sky and come down, and cause the mountains to shake in your presence.
2 They would melt as at the burning of fire, the waters would burn with fire, that thy name might be made known to thy enemies: that the nations might tremble at thy presence.
[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.
3 When thou shalt do wonderful things, we shall not bear them: thou didst come down, and at thy presence the mountains melted away.
You have done awesome things which we were not expecting you to do; the mountains shook when you came down [at Horeb Mountain].
4 From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee.
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.
5 Thou hast met him that rejoiceth, and doth justice: in thy ways they shall remember thee: behold thou art angry, and we have sinned: in them we have been always, and we shall be saved.
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.
6 And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
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.
7 There is none that calleth upon thy name: that riseth up, and taketh hold of thee: thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us in the hand of our iniquity.
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.
8 And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.
Yahweh, you are our father. We are [like] [MET] clay, and you created us, [like] [MET] a potter [creates pottery].
9 Be not very angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity: behold, see we are all thy people.
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.
10 The city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert, Jerusalem is desolate.
[All of] your towns [in Judah] have become like [MET] deserts; [even] Jerusalem has been destroyed.
11 The house of our holiness, and of our glory, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt with fire, and all our lovely things are turned into ruins.
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.
12 Wilt thou refrain thyself, O Lord, upon these things, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us vehemently?
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.
