Isaiah 64

Oh, that you would rend the heavens

Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!a ²As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! ³When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked!

⁴For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!b ⁵You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? ⁶We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.c

⁷Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. ⁸And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.d ⁹Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin. ¹¹The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. ¹²After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?