Isaiah 64:2
in Isaiah 64as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
as when fire kindleth the brushwood, and the fire causeth the waters to boil; to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
KJV
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!
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This verse in Isaiah 64
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAs when the melting fire burneth “As the fire kindleth the dry fuel” - המסים hamasim. “It means dry stubble, and the root is המס hamas, “says Rabbi Jonah, apud Sal ben Belec in loc. Which is approved by Schultens, Orig. Hebrews p. 30. “The fire kindling the stubble does not seem like enough to the melting of the mountains to be brought as a simile to it. What if thus? - ‘That the mountains might flow down at thy presence!
This site's exposition
If only You would rend the heavens and come down
on Isaiah 64:1-3
The prayer breaks into its boldest request, “If only You would rend the heavens and come down”, the appearing Sinai gave at Exodus 19:18. Verse 2 pictures it as fire that “causes the water to boil”. Verse 3 grounds the plea in memory: “You came down”.
This site's exposition
as fire kindles the brushwood
Barnes gives the Hebrew word for brushwood as dry twigs, and he reads the fire as a picture of mountains consumed. The Septuagint makes it wax melting before the fire. Calvin faults the chapter division here, for the fire and the boiling water give the grounds of the prayer.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 64, Verses 1 and following.) Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake before you! As when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
The Medieval Church1 voice
In the waters: "the waters would burn with fire," because you are all fiery, if you should wish: "at another time the fire, above its own power, burnt in the midst of water" (Wis 16:19); or, by the waters are signified peoples: "the many waters …
The Reformation1 voice
Hence we see also the gross absurdity of the division of this chapter; since those events are related in support of that prayer which ought rather to have been placed at the beginning of the chapter. We have formerly seen that the prophets, when they relate that God assisted his people, bring forward an instance in the history of redemption.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The day will come when nations shall be made to tremble at the presence of God, though they be ever so numerous and strong. The plea is that God had appeared wonderfully for his people formerly; and thou hast, therefore thou wilt, is good arguing at the throne of grace, Ps. x.
As when the melting fire burneth,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
This God's people desire and pray for, that they themselves having the satisfaction of seeing him though his way be in the sea, others may be made to see him when his way is in the clouds. This is applicable to the second coming of Christ, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
As when the melting fire burneth - Margin, ‘The fire of meltings.’ Lowth renders it, ‘As when the fire kindleth the dry fuel.’ So Noyes, ‘As fire kindleth the dry stubble.’ The Septuagint render it: Ὡς κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς τήκεται Hōs kēros apo prosōpou puros tēketai - ‘As wax is melted before the fire.’ So the Syriac renders it. The Hebrew word rendered here in the margin ‘meltings’ (המסים hămâsı̂ym), properly means, according to Gesenius, brushwood, twigs. So Saddias renders it. And the true idea here is, that the presence of Yahweh would cause the mountains to melt, as a fire consumes light and dry brushwood or stubble. Dr. Jubb supposes that the meaning is, ‘As the fire of things smelted burneth’ - an idea which would furnish a striking comparison, but there is much doubt whether the Hebrew will bear that construction. The comparison is a very vivid and sublime one, as it is in the view given above - that the presence of Yahweh would set on fire the mountains, and cause them to flow down as under the operation of an intense heat. I do not know that there is reason to suppose that the prophet had any reference to a volcanic eruption, or that he was acquainted with such a phenomenon - though Syria and Palestine abounded in volcanic appearances, and the country around the Dead Sea is evidently volcanic (see Lyell’s Geology, i. 299); but the following description may furnish an illustration of what would be exhibited by the flowing down of the mountains at the presence of Yahweh, and may serve to show the force of the language which the prophet employs in these verses. It is a description of an eruption of Vesuvius in 1779, by Sir William Hamilton. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
When You performed against the Egyptians and against all the adversaries awesome deeds, that we did not hope You would perform all those awesome deeds, for we were unworthy of them.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
As fire burns something that melts because of it, and as fire causes water to bubble; when you put a coal or glowing metal into water, the water bubbles.
When Thou didst send forth Thine anger like fire in the days of Elijah, the sea was melted, the waters were flames of fire, to make Thy name known to the enemies of Thy people, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּקְדֹ֧חַ | kikdoach | as kindles | H6919 → | |
| אֵ֣שׁ | ʾesh | fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| הֲמָסִ֗ים | hamasim | brushwood<s> | H2003 → | |
| מַ֚יִם | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| תִּבְעֶה־ | tiveh- | it boils | H1158 → | 5 times |
| אֵ֔שׁ | ʾesh | fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| לְהוֹדִ֥יעַ | lehodia' | to make known | H3045 → | 945 times |
| שִׁמְךָ֖ | shimkha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
| לְצָרֶ֑יךָ | letzareikha | to opponents your | H6862 → | 109 times |
| מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ | mipaneikha | from before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| גּוֹיִ֥ם | goyim | nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| יִרְגָּֽזוּ׃ | yirgazu | they will quake | H7264 → | 41 times |
כִּקְדֹ֧חַas kindles
kikdoachH6919 →
אֵ֣שׁfire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
הֲמָסִ֗יםbrushwood<s>
hamasimH2003 →
מַ֚יִםwater
mayimH4325 →581 times
תִּבְעֶה־it boils
tiveh-H1158 →5 times
אֵ֔שׁfire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
לְהוֹדִ֥יעַto make known
lehodia'H3045 →945 times
שִׁמְךָ֖name your
shimkhaH8034 →864 times
לְצָרֶ֑יךָto opponents your
letzareikhaH6862 →109 times
מִפָּנֶ֖יךָfrom before you
mipaneikhaH6440 →2123 times
גּוֹיִ֥םnations
goyimH1471 →561 times
יִרְגָּֽזוּ׃they will quake
yirgazuH7264 →41 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 46:10“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”
it leads to
- Psalms 100:3
Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
- Habakkuk 2:20
But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
- Ezekiel 38:23
I will magnify and sanctify Myself, and will reveal Myself in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
- Zechariah 2:13
Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”
- Psalms 83:18
May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
- Psalms 100:3
Through
Psalms 99:1The LORD reigns; let the nations tremble! He is enthroned above the cherubim; let the earth quake!
it leads to
- Psalms 97:1
The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the distant shores be glad.
- Exodus 25:22
And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you…
- Psalms 80:1
Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth
- Psalms 97:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.