Read & explore together
A Prayer for God’s Power
Isaiah 64:1–12 is a prayer asking God to act with visible power. The speaker remembers God’s greatness, admits the people’s sin, and pleads for mercy as they look at ruined cities and a burned house of praise.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
This passage is written as a prayer to Yahweh. It moves from a cry for God to come down, to a confession of sin and uncleanness, and then to an appeal based on God’s fatherly care and creative power, ending with questions about continued silence and severe punishment.
Isaiah 64:1–12Main takeaway
This prayer teaches that people may honestly ask God to act, confess their sin, and appeal for mercy because he is great and they belong to him.
Explore the prayer
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A cry for God to come downThe prayer opens with a bold request: that God would tear the heavens and come down. The language pictures such power that mountains quake, brushwood burns, and water boils.
Explanation
The prayer opens with a bold request: that God would tear the heavens and come down. The language pictures such power that mountains quake, brushwood burns, and water boils. The purpose is not spectacle alone, but that God’s name would be known and the nations would tremble at his presence.
02Remembering God’s unmatched worksThe speaker recalls that God has acted before in awesome and unexpected ways. No other god is like him.
Explanation
The speaker recalls that God has acted before in awesome and unexpected ways. No other god is like him. The prayer says he works for the one who waits for him. Yet this remembrance leads into confession, because God is angry and the people have sinned for a long time.
03A full confession of guiltThe prayer does not minimise sin. It says all have become unclean, and even their righteousness is like a polluted garment.
Explanation
The prayer does not minimise sin. It says all have become unclean, and even their righteousness is like a polluted garment. Their lives fade like a leaf, and iniquities carry them away like wind. The problem is deep: no one calls on God’s name or stirs himself to take hold of him.
04Appealing to the Father and PotterAfter confession, the prayer turns to relationship. Yahweh is called Father, and the people are clay while he is the potter.
Explanation
After confession, the prayer turns to relationship. Yahweh is called Father, and the people are clay while he is the potter. Because they are the work of his hand and his people, they ask him not to be furious forever or remember iniquity without end.
05Mercy in the face of ruinThe prayer ends by describing loss plainly: holy cities are wilderness, Zion and Jerusalem are desolate, and the house where their fathers praised God is burned with fire.
Explanation
The prayer ends by describing loss plainly: holy cities are wilderness, Zion and Jerusalem are desolate, and the house where their fathers praised God is burned with fire. On that basis, the speaker asks whether Yahweh will keep silent and punish them very severely.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What images in the opening verses show the kind of power the speaker wants God to display?
Look for the pictures of quaking mountains, burning brushwood, and boiling water, and connect them to the request for God to come down.
02How does the prayer speak about human sin and weakness?
Notice the words unclean, polluted garment, fading leaf, and iniquities like wind, and also the statement that no one calls on God’s name.
03What reasons does the speaker give when asking God for mercy?
Gather the appeals based on God being Father and potter, the people being his handiwork, and the ruined condition of the cities and house.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Isaiah 64:1–12
1Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil. Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!
3When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for, you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.
4For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.
5You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved?
6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.
8But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
9Don’t be furious, Yahweh. Don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people.
10Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire. All our pleasant places are laid waste.
12Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?