After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent, and punish us very severely?
- KJV Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
- NKJV Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O Lord? Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?
- NASB Will You restrain Yourself at these things, Lord? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
- NLT After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The chapter ends by asking whether God will restrain Himself, keep silent, and punish severely. It matters because it leaves the people waiting in dependence on God's mercy.
Overview
The prayer closes with anguished questions, casting the people entirely on God's response. They cannot save themselves and can only appeal to His compassion. This posture of waiting in faith sets the stage for God's answer in chapter 65, and it reflects the believer's stance of trusting God's mercy in Christ even amid silence and judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 42:14“I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.
- Ps 74:10–11How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
- Ps 83:1A song. A Psalm of Asaph. O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.
- Zech 1:12Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
- Ps 74:18–19Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
- Ps 10:1Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
- Rev 6:10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
- Ps 80:3–4Restore us, O God, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.
- Ps 79:5How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
- Ps 89:46–51How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 64:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.