Isaiah Institute Translation
Isaiah 64
- a5 Phrase transposed; in the text it follows sinned.
- b7 Literally, melted.
- c8 So 1QIsaa; LXX. Compare 60:21; passim. MT hand.
King James Version
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Isaiah Institute Translation
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Masoretic Text
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Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, | 1 | O that you would rend the heavens and descend,the mountains melting at your presence— | לוּא־קָרַעְתָּ שָׁמַיִם יָרַדְתָּ מִפָּנֶיךָ הָרִים נָזֹלּוּ כִּקְדֹחַ אֵשׁ הֲמָסִים מַיִם תִּבְעֶה־אֵשׁ לְהוֹדִיעַ שִׁמְךָ לְצָרֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ גּוֹיִם יִרְגָּזוּ ׃ |
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! | 2 | as when fire is lit for boiling water,which bubbles over from the heat—to make yourself known to your adversaries,the nations trembling at your presence— | בַּעֲשׂוֹתְךָ נוֹרָאוֹת לֹא נְקַוֶּה יָרַדְתָּ מִפָּנֶיךָ הָרִים נָזֹלּוּ ׃ |
When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. | 3 | as when you performed awesome thingsunexpected by us: your descent of old,when the mountains quaked before you! | וּמֵעוֹלָם לֹא־שָׁמְעוּ לֹא הֶאֱזִינוּ עַיִן לֹא־רָאָתָה אֱלֹהִים זוּלָתְךָ יַעֲשֶׂה לִמְחַכֵּה־לוֹ ׃ |
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. | 4 | Never has it been heard or perceived by the ear,nor has any eye seen a God besides you,who acts thus on behalf of those who wait for him. | פָּגַעְתָּ אֶת־שָׂשׂ וְעֹשֵׂה צֶדֶק בִּדְרָכֶיךָ יִזְכְּרוּךָ הֵן־אַתָּה קָצַפְתָּ וַנֶּחֱטָא בָּהֶם עוֹלָם וְנִוָּשֵׁעַ ׃ |
Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. | 5 | But you wound those of us who joyfully perform righteousness, who remember you by following your ways— athat in them we might ever be saved.a Alas, you were roused to anger when we sinned, | וַנְּהִי כַטָּמֵא כֻּלָּנוּ וּכְבֶגֶד עִדִּים כָּל־צִדְקֹתֵינוּ וַנָּבֶל כֶּעָלֶה כֻּלָּנוּ וַעֲוֹנֵנוּ כָּרוּחַ יִשָּׂאֻנוּ ׃ |
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. | 6 | and now we have altogether become as those defiled,the sum of our righteousness as a menstruous rag.We are decaying like leaves, all of us;our sins, like a wind, sweep us away. | וְאֵין־קוֹרֵא בְשִׁמְךָ מִתְעוֹרֵר לְהַחֲזִיק בָּךְ כִּי־הִסְתַּרְתָּ פָנֶיךָ מִמֶּנּוּ וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ בְּיַד־עֲוֹנֵנוּ ׃ |
And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. | 7 | Yet none calls upon your name,or rouses himself to take hold of you.For you have hidden your face from usand enfeebledb us at the hand of our iniquities. | וְעַתָּה יְהוָה אָבִינוּ אָתָּה אֲנַחְנוּ הַחֹמֶר וְאַתָּה יֹצְרֵנוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדְךָ כֻּלָּנוּ ׃ |
But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. | 8 | Nevertheless, you are our Father, O Jehovah;we are the clay and you are the potter,and we are all alike the work of your hands.c | אַל־תִּקְצֹף יְהוָה עַד־מְאֹד וְאַל־לָעַד תִּזְכֹּר עָוֹן הֵן הַבֶּט־נָא עַמְּךָ כֻלָּנוּ ׃ |
Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. | 9 | Be not exceedingly angry, O Jehovah;remember not iniquity forever.See, consider that we are all your people! | עָרֵי קָדְשְׁךָ הָיוּ מִדְבָּר צִיּוֹן מִדְבָּר הָיָתָה יְרוּשָׁלִַם שְׁמָמָה ׃ |
Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. | 10 | Your holy cities have become a wilderness;Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. | בֵּית קָדְשֵׁנוּ וְתִפְאַרְתֵּנוּ אֲשֶׁר הִלְלוּךָ אֲבֹתֵינוּ הָיָה לִשְׂרֵפַת אֵשׁ וְכָל־מַחֲמַדֵּינוּ הָיָה לְחָרְבָּה עָרֵי קָדְשְׁךָ הָיוּ מִדְבָּר צִיּוֹן מִדְבָּר הָיָתָה יְרוּשָׁלִַם שְׁמָמָה ׃ |
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. | 11 | Our glorious holy templewhere our fathers praised youhas been burned with fire,and all places dear to us lie in ruins. | בֵּית קָדְשֵׁנוּ וְתִפְאַרְתֵּנוּ אֲשֶׁר הִלְלוּךָ אֲבֹתֵינוּ הָיָה לִשְׂרֵפַת אֵשׁ וְכָל־מַחֲמַדֵּינוּ הָיָה לְחָרְבָּה ׃ |
Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? | 12 | At all this, O Jehovah, will you restrain yourself,in silence letting us suffer so exceedingly? | הַעַל־אֵלֶּה תִתְאַפַּק יְהוָה תֶּחֱשֶׁה וּתְעַנֵּנוּ עַד־מְאֹד ׃ |
וַיְהִי בִּימֵי אָחָז בֶּן־יוֹתָם בֶּן־עֻזִּיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה עָלָה רְצִין מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם וּפֶקַח בֶּן־רְמַלְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל יְרוּשָׁלִַם לַמִּלְחָמָה עָלֶיהָ וְלֹא יָכֹל לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ ׃ | |
King James Version
KJV
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Isaiah Institute Translation
IIT
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And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. |
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not overpower it. |
Apocalyptic Commentary |
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Two generations of kings from the time Isaiah receives his prophetic commission, an expansionist Assyria threatens to invade the kingdom of Aram (Syria), the ten-tribed Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah and to annex them into its empire. When King Ahaz of Judah refuses to join Aram and Israel in an alliance to resist Assyria, they invade the Southern Kingdom to overthrow Ahaz and put a puppet ruler on his throne who will join their coalition. Ahaz, moreover, becomes an important type in the Book of Isaiah of an end-time ruler who proves disloyal to Israel’s God. |
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Apocalyptic Commentary
Isaiah 64
Some of Jehovah’s people who wade through end-time calamities continue to call on Jehovah (Isaiah 63:15-19), this time harking back to his descent on Mount Sinai anciently (Exodus 19:16-20). Instead of blaming him for their afflictions as before, however (Isaiah 63:17), they acknowledge their guilt (Isaiah 59:12-13) and appeal to him to deliver them (vv 5-9). This shows that the covenant curses they encounter are having the desired effect of inducing them to repent. Hope thus exists for some who fail to participate in the new exodus but who may nevertheless survive to see Jehovah’s coming.
The synonymous a-b-a mini-chiasm of “mountains melting at your presence” (v 1)—a, “nations/Gentiles trembling at your presence” (v 2)—b, and “mountains quaking before you/at your presence” (v 3)—a, identifies the term “mountains” as a metaphor for “nations” (cf. Isaiah 2:12-14; 5:25; 37:24; 41:15; 52:7). Because the Hebrew verbs are synonyms, and because all three instances of “at your presence/before you” are identical, the chiasm’s remaining components are thus also synonymous. Parallel component of Isaiah 13:4 similarly identify “mountains” as a metaphor for “kingdoms.”
Not only a new exodus (Isaiah 63:11-14), but also a new descent on the mount (vv 1-3) features among many end-time versions of ancient events. Separating those of Jehovah’s people who participate in his redemptive acts and those who don’t is whether or not they “wait” for him amid troubled times: “Then will Jehovah delay [his coming], that he may favor you; out of mercy toward you he will remain aloof. For Jehovah is the God of justice; blessed are all who wait for him” (Isaiah 30:18); “I will wait for Jehovah, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and expect him” (Isaiah 8:17).
Although in their newly repentant state this category of Jehovah’s people again “performs righteousness” and “remembers” Jehovah, for a long time they performed wickedness and forgot him. Not qualifying to participate in the new exodus to Zion, they continue to expiate their iniquities and to endure the curses that accrued. Didn’t Jehovah’s servant warn them that they had forgotten their God, their salvation, and not remembered the Rock, their fortress (Isaiah 17:10)? Didn’t he exhort them to forsake their corrupt ways and thoughts and return to Jehovah so he would pardon them (Isaiah 55:7)?
Realizing their error, however, they learned sufficiently from the servant’s example to emulate his righteousness. Although subject to Jehovah’s anger—the king of Assyria/Babylon (Isaiah 10:5)—they receive a second chance to overcome the chaotic consequences of their actions. Although still under a curse, Jehovah’s “ways” are becoming their ways (Isaiah 55:8) as they wade through their descent phase to recovery. Notwithstanding their transgressions weakened them almost irreversibly—their dysfunctional patterns being difficult to overcome—they are set on a return path (Isaiah 10:20-22).
Without the help of proxy saviors, the belated repenters of Jehovah’s people yet suffer the aftermath of their former actions. Cut off from Jehovah’s presence, they are made to realize that without him there is no access to any other saving power (Isaiah 43:11). Their only recourse is to complete the entire repentance process until he revives and heals them (Isaiah 57:15-16; cf. 6:10). The hand of Jehovah that might have delivered them, they rejected, so that now they feel his hand of punishment (Isaiah 50:2, 10-11). Although he called them, they still mostly wallow in spiritual inertia (Isaiah 43:22).
Desiring to reclaim their former privileged position as his covenant people, the repentant sinners who suffer through Jehovah’s Day of Judgment appeal to Jehovah to be numbered with those called “work of his hands”—that is, with Jehovah’s elect who participate in the new exodus to Zion (Isaiah 19:25; 29:23; 45:11; 60:21). Numbered among neither the righteous who were delivered nor the wicked who perish in Jehovah’s day of vengeance, this intermediate category must pass through an entirely new cycle of repentance and righteousness for Jehovah to acknowledge them again as his people.
During the time the righteous who left in the new exodus dwell in the wilderness (Isaiah 35:7-10; 40:3; 41:17-20; 43:19-21) those left behind suffer the covenant curses of invasion by enemies and the desolation of their lands (Isaiah 1:7; 6:11; 17:9; 33:7-9). Jehovah’s fire—the archtyrant—burns up the evildoers of Jehovah’s people and their temple/s (Isaiah 5:24; 9:18-19; 30:27-28; 33:11-14). Because their wickedness ran its course, bringing on their condemnation, so the fruits of their wickedness must run their course until their repentance is complete (Isaiah 3:11; 26:10-11; 48:22; 59:7-11).