Isaiah 64

¹Oh that you would tear the heavens,

that you would come down,

that the mountains might quake at your presence—

²as when fire kindles the brushwood,

and the fire causes the water to boil.

Make your name known to your adversaries,

that the nations may tremble at your presence!

³When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for,

you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴For from of old men have not heard,

nor perceived by the ear,

nor has the eye seen a God besides you,

who works for him who waits for him.

⁵You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,

those who remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned.

We have been in sin for a long time.

Shall we be saved?

⁶For we have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf;

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

⁷There is no one who calls on your name,

who stirs himself up to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

⁸But now, LORD, you are our Father.

We are the clay and you our potter.

We all are the work of your hand.

⁹Don’t be furious, LORD.

Don’t remember iniquity forever.

Look and see, we beg you,

we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness.

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you

is burnt with fire.

All our pleasant places are laid waste.

¹²Will you hold yourself back for these things, LORD?

Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?