Isaiah 64:4-5

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 64:4 tn Heb “from ancient times they have not heard, they have not listened.”
2. Isaiah 64:5 tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”
3. Isaiah 64:5 tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”
4. Isaiah 64:5 tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”
5. Isaiah 64:5 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 (vannirshaʿ, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).