Isaiah 64
1 Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down,
If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
2 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.
as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence!
3 When thou didst fearful things we could not expect, Thou camest down at thy presence, mountains, quaked.
When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.
4 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,
From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
5 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.
You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
6 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;
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
7 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.
No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 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:
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
9 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.
Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
10 Thy holy cities, have become a wilderness, —Zion, a wilderness, hath become, Jerusalem, a desolation!
Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house Where our fathers praised thee, Hath become a conflagration, —And, all our delightful places, are in ruins!
Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
12 In view of these things, wilt thou restrain thyself. O Yahweh? Wilt thou hold thy peace and humble us so very greatly?
After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
