Read Isaiah 64 in the King James Bible (opens in a new tab)
Isaiah 64 continues the prophet’s intercession with an urgent plea for God to rend the heavens, come down, and make His name known before His enemies. The prayer remembers the Lord’s past mighty acts and confesses that no human mind can fully comprehend what He has prepared for those who wait for Him. Israel admits that persistent sin has made the people unclean, weakened their prayers, and polluted even their outward righteousness. Yet the prophet appeals to the covenant relationship, confessing that the Lord is their Father and Potter, while they are the work of His hands. The chapter ends by placing Jerusalem’s ruins and the burned sanctuary before God and pleading that He will not remain silent or continue His anger without end.
Isaiah 64:1 - 64:12
1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2 As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3 When thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world [men] have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, [what] he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
9 Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we [are] all thy people.
10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these [things], O Lord? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?