Year of the Bible

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Overview of the Book of Isaiah Chapter 64: Victory at the End

The previous oracle sang of the glory of the new Jerusalem and the prospect of its saviour’s imminent arrival (cf. 62:11). Now at last the Lord comes as a conqueror and a Judge to dispense rewards and punishments. There are a number of oracles here to do with this theme, and they combine to create a long and beautiful apocalyptic poem. God is twice invoked in urgent tones as the Father of Israel (63:16; 64:8). This is one of the most eloquent Old Testament passages about God’s tender fatherly feelings towards his people. The author of the poem is fully confident that the Lord’s fatherly heart will be sensitive towards everything his people suffer, even though they brought it on themselves (64:3–6). He beseeches God for help (63:17–19), even asking for a spectacular miracle (64:1).

Read: The Book of Isaiah Chapter 64: Prayer for Mercy

1 O that you would tear the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did terrible things which we looked not for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him that joyfully works righteousness,
those that remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
6 We 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.
7 There is no one that calls upon your name,
that bestirs himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.

8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Be not exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and remember not iniquity for ever.
Behold, consider, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD?
Will you keep silent, and afflict us sorely?

*Daily Lectio Divina Question for Today:

Lord, with purity of heart Isaiah longed for Your coming: “O that you would tear the heavens and come down!” Stir up in my heart a longing for Your coming, Lord.

Scripture text courtesy of the Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006). Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this. If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further

Overview commentary above provided by The Navarre Bible; Major Prophets; James Gavigan, Brian McCarthy, and Thomas McGovern, eds. (New York: Four Courts Press; Scepter Publishers, 2005)