Isaiahchapter 64

12 verses · KJVIsaiah book hub →

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?

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

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Continuing the lament begun in chapter 63, the community pleads for a theophany: "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down," that mountains might quake as when fire kindles brushwood and the nations tremble. No eye has seen a God besides him, who works for the one who waits for him. Confession follows: all have become as one unclean, "all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment"; the people fade like a leaf, iniquities carry them off like wind, and none stirs himself to take hold of God. Yet the plea rests on relationship: "we are the clay, and thou our potter." The evidence of ruin closes the prayer: the holy cities a wilderness, Zion a desolation, the holy and beautiful house burned with fire, ending with the question whether Jehovah will still hold his peace.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview

A. 1–7 Oh That Thou Wouldest Rend the Heavens and Come Down
B. 8–12 We Are the Clay and Thou Our Potter

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Psalms 743 verses
- Psalms 74:5A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
- Psalms 74:10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
- Psalms 74:18Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
- Read Psalms 74 →
Romans 72 verses
- Romans 7:18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
- Romans 7:24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
- Read Romans 7 →
Ephesians 22 verses
- Ephesians 2:1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
- Ephesians 2:10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
- Read Ephesians 2 →
Micah 11 verse
- Micah 1:3For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
- Read Micah 1 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Revelation 201 verse
- Revelation 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Read Revelation 20 →
Exodus 191 verse
- Exodus 19:18And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
- Read Exodus 19 →
Psalms 991 verse
- Psalms 99:1The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
- Read Psalms 99 →
Jeremiah 331 verse
- Jeremiah 33:9And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
- Read Jeremiah 33 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.