Isaiah 64:1

(63:19b) ¹  If only you would tear apart the sky ²  and come down! The mountains would tremble ³  before you!

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence—

Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!

Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend, make the mountains shudder at your presence--

O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you,

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—

Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence––

(63:19b) ¹  If only you would tear apart the sky ²  and come down! The mountains would tremble ³  before you!

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.

² tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

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.