If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
Parallel translations
- WEB Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.
- KJV Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
- NKJV Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—
- NASB Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down, That the mountains would quake at Your presence—
- NLT Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!
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 people cry out for God to tear open the heavens and come down so the mountains quake at His presence. It matters because it voices the longing for God to act decisively.
Overview
This passionate plea asks God to make a dramatic theophany, descending in power as at Sinai. It expresses the deep human yearning for God to break in and set things right. In a profound sense this prayer is answered at the incarnation, when God came down in Christ, and it anticipates His glorious return (Mark 1:10 notably uses 'tearing' imagery at Jesus' baptism).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mic 1:3–4For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
- Mark 1:10As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens breaking open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.
- Exod 19:18–19Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
- Rev 20:11Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
- Ps 68:8the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
- Nah 1:5–6The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- Ps 144:5–6Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Hab 3:1–13This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:
- Isa 63:15Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.
- Exod 3:8I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Amos 9:13“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow.
- Judg 5:4–5O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.
- Ps 46:6Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
- Ps 18:7–15Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.
- Ps 114:4–7the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
- 2 Pet 3:10–12But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.
- Exod 19:11and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
- Amos 9:5The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—
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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 64:1 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
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