Isaiah 64

¹O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down,

that the mountains might quake at thy presence—

²as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

to make thy name known to thy adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at thy presence!

³When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,

thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.

⁴From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides thee,

who works for those who wait for him.

⁵Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness,

those that remember thee in thy ways.

Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

⁶We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷There is no one that calls upon thy name,

that bestirs himself to take hold of thee;

for thou hast hid thy face from us,

and hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.

⁸Yet, O Lord, thou art our Father;

we are the clay, and thou art our potter;

we are all the work of thy hand.

⁹Be not exceedingly angry, O Lord,

and remember not iniquity for ever.

Behold, consider, we are all thy people.

¹⁰Thy holy cities have become a wilderness,

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and beautiful house,

where our fathers praised thee,

has been burned by fire,

and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

¹²Wilt thou restrain thyself at these things, O Lord?

Wilt thou keep silent, and afflict us sorely?