Isaiah 64:6-7

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

64:7 No one invokes ²  your name,

or makes an effort ³  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ⁴ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ⁵ 

[64:6]  ¹ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[64:7]  ² tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ³ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.