Isaiah 64
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 64Written by AI
The prayer continues: if only God would tear open the heavens and come down. The people confess that even their righteous acts are like filthy rags. Notice the tender image at the end, of God as Father and potter and His people as clay, the work of His hand, pleading with Him not to remember their sins forever.
A Prayer for God’s Power
If only You would rend the heavens and come down,
so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
as 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!
When You did awesome works that we did not expect,
You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.
From ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides You,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
You welcome those who gladly do right,
who remember Your ways.
Surely You were angry, for we sinned.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
Each of us has become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all wither like a leaf,
and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
No one calls on Your name
or strives to take hold of You.
For You have hidden Your face from us
and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
But now, O LORD, You are our Father;
we are the clay, and You are the potter;
we are all the work of Your hand.
Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure;
do not remember our iniquity forever.
Oh, look upon us, we pray;
we are all Your people!
Your holy cities have become a wilderness.
Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and beautiful temple,
where our fathers praised You,
has been burned with fire,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
After all this, O LORD,
will You restrain Yourself?
Will You keep silent
and afflict us beyond measure?