Isaiah 64
1 “[Yahweh], I wish that you would tear open the sky and come down, and cause the mountains to shake in your presence.
Oh that thou would rend the heavens, that thou would come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence,
2 [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.
as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3 You have done awesome things which we were not expecting you to do; the mountains shook when you came down [at Horeb Mountain].
When thou did fearful things which we did not look for, thou came down; the mountains quaked at thy presence.
4 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.
For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he has prepared for him who waits for him.
5 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.
Thou meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou were angry, and we sinned. Therefore we have erred.
6 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.
For we have all become as unclean, and all our righteous acts are as a polluted garment. And we all fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 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.
And there is none who calls upon thy name, who stirs himself up to take hold of thee. For thou have hid thy face from us, and have consumed us through our iniquities.
8 Yahweh, you are our father. We are [like] [MET] clay, and you created us, [like] [MET] a potter [creates pottery].
But now, O Jehovah, thou are our Father. We are the clay, and thou our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand.
9 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.
Be not angry very severely, O Jehovah, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold, look, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
10 [All of] your towns [in Judah] have become like [MET] deserts; [even] Jerusalem has been destroyed.
Thy holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 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.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant places are laid waste.
12 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.
Will thou restrain thyself for these things, O Jehovah? Will thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very severely?
