Isaiah 64

1 Did You not tear the heavens? You came down, Mountains flowed from Your presence,

If only you would rip the heavens apart and come down! The mountains would tremble in your presence!

2 (As fire kindles stubble—Fire causes water to boil), To make Your Name known to Your adversaries, Nations tremble from Your presence.

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!

3 In Your doing fearful things [that] we do not expect, You came down, Mountains flowed from Your presence.

In the past you did things we weren't anticipating. You came down and the mountains trembled in your presence!

4 Even from antiquity [men] have not heard, They have not given ear, Eye has not seen a God except You, He works for those waiting for Him.

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.

5 You have met with the rejoicer And the doer of righteousness, In Your ways they remember You, Behold, You have been angry when we sin, By them [is] continuance, and we are saved.

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?

6 And we are as unclean—all of us, And all our righteous acts [are] as garments of menstruation; And we fade as a leaf—all of us. And our iniquities take us away as wind.

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.

7 And there is none calling on Your Name, Stirring himself up to lay hold on You, For You have hid Your face from us, And You melt us away by our iniquities.

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.

8 And now, O YHWH, You [are] our Father, We [are] the clay, and You [are] our Framer, And the work of Your hand—all of us.

But you, Lord, are our Father. We're the clay, you're the potter. You made us all with your own hands.

9 Do not be angry, O YHWH, very severely, Nor remember iniquity forever, Behold, look attentively, we implore You, We [are] all Your people.

Please limit your anger, Lord, and don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, and see that we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have been a wilderness, Zion has been a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Your holy cities have been turned into a wilderness; Zion has become a desert; yes, even Jerusalem is an abandoned ruin.

11 Our holy and our beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has become burned with fire, And all our desirable things have become a ruin.

Our beautiful, holy Temple where our forefathers praised you has been burned down, and all that we treasured has been destroyed.

12 Do You refrain Yourself for these, YHWH? You are silent, and afflict us very severely!

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?