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64 

Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and come down.
Mountains then would quake because of your presence.[a]
As fire ignites stubble and as fire makes water boil,
make your name known to your adversaries.
Then nations would quake in your presence.
You did amazing things that we did not expect.
You came down. Mountains quaked because of your presence.
From ancient times no one has heard.
No ear has understood.
No eye has seen any god except you,
who goes into action for the one who waits for him.
You meet anyone who joyfully practices righteousness,
who remembers you by walking in your ways!
But you were angry because we sinned.
We have remained in our sins for a long time.

Can we still be saved?
All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth.[b]
All of us have withered like a leaf,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is no one who calls on your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you.
So you hid your face from us.
You made us melt by the power of our guilt.
But now, Lord, you are our father.
We are the clay, and you are our potter.
All of us are the work of your hand.
Do not be angry, Lord, without limit.
Do not remember our guilt forever.
Please look closely.
All of us are your people.

Isaiah’s Lament

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness.
Zion has become a wilderness.
Jerusalem is a desolation.
11 Our holy and glorious house, where our fathers praised you,
    has been burned by fire,
    and everything we desired has become a ruin.
12 Since this is so, how can you hold back, O Lord?
How can you remain silent and afflict us without limit?

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 64:1 English 64:1 is part of 63:19 in Hebrew. All the subsequent verse numbers in chapter 64 are one number higher in English than they are in Hebrew.
  2. Isaiah 64:6 Literally the cloth of periods. The blood of a woman’s period made anyone who contacted it ceremonially unclean.