Isaiah 64
1 If only you would rip the heavens apart and come down! The mountains would tremble in your presence!
Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down,
2 In the same way that fire burns wood and makes the water boil, make your reputation known to your enemies, so that nations will tremble in your presence!
At thy presence, had mountains, quaked: As fire kindleth brushwood, [As] fire causeth, water, to boil, So if thou wouldst make known thy Name to thine adversaries, At thy presence, nations, would tremble.
3 In the past you did things we weren't anticipating. You came down and the mountains trembled in your presence!
When thou didst fearful things we could not expect, Thou camest down at thy presence, mountains, quaked.
4 Since the beginning, no one has heard about, no one has paid attention to, and no one has seen any God except you, the one who helps those who place their confidence in you.
Although from age-past times It was never heard, It was not perceived by the ear, —Neither did, the eye, ever see—That, a god besides thee, could work for the man who waited for him,
5 You join with those who are glad, and with those who do what's right and remember to follow your ways. But when we went on sinning, you became angry. How can we be saved if we go on like this?
Yet didst thou meet Him who was rejoicing and working righteousness, Even them who in thy ways, remembered thee, —Lo! thou, hast been vexed, And truly we had sinned, Among them, was the prospect of an age [to come], That we might be saved.
6 We've all become unclean, and all the good things we do are like dirty rags. We wither and die like autumn leaves, and our sins, like the wind, blow us away.
But we have become as one unclean all of us, And, as a garment polluted, were all our righteous doings, —And so we faded like a leaf all of us, And, our iniquity, as a wind, carried us away;
7 There's no one who calls for you or really wants to hold onto you, because you have hidden your face from us and let us drown in our own sins.
And there was none To call upon thy Name, To rouse himself to lay firm hold on thee, —For thou hadst hidden thy face from us, And hadst made us despond, by means of our iniquity.
8 But you, Lord, are our Father. We're the clay, you're the potter. You made us all with your own hands.
But, now, O Yahweh, our father, thou art, —We are the clay, and, thou, art our potter, Yea the work of thy hand, are we all:
9 Please limit your anger, Lord, and don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, and see that we are all your people.
Do not be indignant, O Yahweh so very greatly, Neither perpetually, do thou recall iniquity, —Lo! look around, we pray thee…thy people, are, we all.
10 Your holy cities have been turned into a wilderness; Zion has become a desert; yes, even Jerusalem is an abandoned ruin.
Thy holy cities, have become a wilderness, —Zion, a wilderness, hath become, Jerusalem, a desolation!
11 Our beautiful, holy Temple where our forefathers praised you has been burned down, and all that we treasured has been destroyed.
Our holy and our beautiful house Where our fathers praised thee, Hath become a conflagration, —And, all our delightful places, are in ruins!
12 In view of all this, are you still going to refuse to help us? Are you going to stay quiet and punish us so severely?
In view of these things, wilt thou restrain thyself. O Yahweh? Wilt thou hold thy peace and humble us so very greatly?
