64:1 (63:19b) 1 If only you would tear apart the sky 2 and come down!
The mountains would tremble 3 before you!
64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,
or fire makes water boil,
let your adversaries know who you are, 4
and may the nations shake at your presence!
64:3 When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, 5
you came down, and the mountains trembled 6 before you.
64:4 Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, 7
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who intervenes for those who wait for him.
64:5 You assist 8 those who delight in doing what is right, 9
who observe your commandments. 10
Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.
How then can we be saved? 11
1 sn In BHS the chapter division occurs in a different place from the English Bible: 64:1 ET (63:19b HT) and 64:2-12 (64:1-11 HT). Beginning with 65:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
2 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
3 tn Or “quake.” נָזֹלּוּ (nazollu) is from the verbal root זָלַל (zalal, “quake”; see HALOT 272 s.v. II זלל). Perhaps there is a verbal allusion to Judg 5:5, the only other passage where this verb occurs. In that passage the poet tells how the Lord’s appearance to do battle caused the mountains to shake.
4 tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”
7 tn Heb “[for which] we were not waiting.”
8 tn See the note at v. 1.
10 tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”
13 tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”
14 tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”
15 tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”
16 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).