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.
O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down; That the mountains might tremble 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 fire kindleth the dry stubble, As fire causeth water to boil, To make known thy name to thine adversaries, That the nations might 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].
As thou once didst wonderful things, which we looked not for, And camest down, so that the mountains trembled 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 never have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, Nor hath eye seen, a God beside thee. Who doeth such things for those that trust in 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 art the friend of those who joyfully do righteousness, Those who remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou art angry, and we are punished; Long doth the punishment endure, before we are delivered.
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.
We are all of us an unclean thing; Like a filthy garment is all our righteousness; We are all withered like a leaf, And our sins, like a storm, have blown 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.
There is none that calleth upon thy name, That stirreth himself up to cleave to thee; For thou hidest thy face from us, And lettest us perish by 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 art our father; We are the clay, and thou hast formed us; We are all of us the work of thy hands.
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 wroth, O Jehovah, to the uttermost, Nor remember our iniquity forever! Behold, look upon us, 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 is 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 glorious house, Where our fathers praised thee, Is burned with fire, And all our precious things 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.
Wilt thou contain thyself at these things, O Jehovah, Wilt thou keep silence, and still grievously afflict us?
