| 1 | Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake
and
flow down at 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! |
| 3 | When You did terrible things which we did not expect, You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence. |
| 4 | For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works
and
shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him. |
| 5 | You meet
and
spare him who joyfully works righteousness (uprightness and justice), [earnestly] remembering You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned; we have long continued in our sins [prolonging Your anger]. And shall we be saved? |
| 6 | For we have all become like one who is unclean [ceremonially, like a leper], and all our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags
or
a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from God’s favor, hurrying us toward destruction]. |
| 7 | And no one calls on Your name and awakens
and
bestirs himself to take
and
keep hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the [consuming] power of our iniquities. |
| 8 | Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand. |
| 9 | Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, or [seriously] remember iniquity forever. Behold, consider, we beseech You, we are all Your people. |
| 10 | Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. |
| 11 | Our holy and our beautiful house, [the temple] where our fathers praised You, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant
and
desirable places are in ruins. |
| 12 | Considering these [calamities], will You restrain Yourself, O Lord [and not come to our aid]? Will You keep silent
and
not command our deliverance but humble
and
afflict us exceedingly? |
Cross references:
-
Isaiah 64:6 : Lev. 13:45, 46.
-
Isaiah 64:7 : Rom. 1:21-24.
|