Discovery BoxIsaiah 64:1-5
Context64:1 (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
[64:1] 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.
[64:1] 2 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
[64:1] 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.
[64:2] 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.”
[64:3] 7 tn Heb “[for which] we were not waiting.”
[64:3] 8 tn See the note at v. 1.
[64:4] 10 tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”
[64:5] 13 tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”
[64:5] 14 tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”
[64:5] 15 tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”
[64:5] 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).
