Bible Commentary

Wilt thou refrain thyself for these [things], O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? 12. refrain thyself ] See ch. Isa 63:15. Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Wilt thou refrain thyself – Wilt thou refuse to come to our aid? Wilt thou decline to visit us, and … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:12”

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. The reference must apparently be to the first Temple and its destruction by the Chaldans. The expression, and indeed the whole tone of the passage, suggest an event not quite … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:11”

Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 10. Thy holy cities ] is a phrase which does not occur elsewhere, and both LXX. and Vulg. substitute the sing. for the plur. It is not necessary, however, to follow them. If the land is holy (Zec 2:12) there is no … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:10”

Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity forever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we [are] all thy people. 9. neither remember iniquity for ever ] Psa 79:8. The nation feels that it is bearing the inexhaustible penalty of past sins. Such a thought was specially natural after the Restoration, when it appeared … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:9”

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. thou art our father ] See on Isa 63:16. we are the clay, and thou our potter ] The nearest parallel to this application of the common image of … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:8”

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. And there is none that calleth, &c. ] an easily intelligible hyperbole. stirreth himself up ] “arouseth himself,” the same … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:7”

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 we are all become as one unclean in a ceremonial sense, like the leper. and all our righteousnesses &c. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:6”

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. Thou meetest ] (a perf. of experience). The verb is obviously used here in a good sense, as Gen 32:1. that rejoiceth … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:5”

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 7. This difficult passage contains (1) an appeal to that which distinguishes Jehovah from all other deities: He is … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:4”

When thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. 3. The second part of the verse, being (in the original) verbally repeated from Isa 64:1, ought probably to be omitted as a copyist’s error. The passage gains in compactness by its excision. Isa 64:1-3 … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 64:3”