Isaiah 64

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

Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down,

2 (As fire kindles stubble—Fire causes water to boil), To make Your Name known to Your adversaries, Nations tremble from 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 Your doing fearful things [that] we do not expect, You came down, Mountains flowed from Your presence.

When thou didst fearful things we could not expect, Thou camest down at thy presence, mountains, quaked.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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, 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 Do not be angry, O YHWH, very severely, Nor remember iniquity forever, Behold, look attentively, we implore You, 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 a wilderness, Zion has been a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Thy holy cities, have become a wilderness, —Zion, a wilderness, hath become, Jerusalem, a desolation!

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 holy and our beautiful house Where our fathers praised thee, Hath become a conflagration, —And, all our delightful places, are in ruins!

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

In view of these things, wilt thou restrain thyself. O Yahweh? Wilt thou hold thy peace and humble us so very greatly?