Isaiah 64
1 Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy 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] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thy adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy 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 thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy 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 For since the beginning of the world [men] have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, [what] he hath prepared for him that waiteth 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 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, [those that] remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall 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 But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken 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 And [there is] none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because 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, O LORD, thou [art] our father; we [are] the clay, and thou our potter; and we all [are] the work of thy hand.
Yahweh, you are our father. We are [like] [MET] clay, and you created us, [like] [MET] a potter [creates pottery].
9 Be not very wroth, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we [are] all thy 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 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is 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 thee, is burned with fire: and all our pleasant things 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 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these [things], O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and grievously afflict us?
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.
