Isaiah 64
1 Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,
“[Yahweh], I wish that you would tear open the sky and come down, and cause the mountains to shake in your presence.
2 as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your 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 you did awesome things which we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
You have done awesome things which we were not expecting you to do; the mountains shook when you came down [at Horeb Mountain].
4 Since ancient times no one has heard, and no ear has perceived, and no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.
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 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Look, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we 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 For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take 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 who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.
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 But now, YHWH, you are our Father, and we are clay, and you are our potter; and we all are the work of your hands.
Yahweh, you are our father. We are [like] [MET] clay, and you created us, [like] [MET] a potter [creates pottery].
9 Do not be furious, YHWH, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your 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 Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become like a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
[All of] your towns [in Judah] have become like [MET] deserts; [even] Jerusalem has been destroyed.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.
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 Will you refrain yourself for these things, YHWH? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?
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.
