Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be furious, Yahweh, and don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people.
- KJV Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
- NKJV Do not be furious, O Lord, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!
- NASB Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord, Nor remember wrongdoing forever. Behold, please look, all of us are Your people.
- NLT Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.
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 beg God not to remain angry or remember sin forever, pleading that they are all His people. It matters because it appeals to God's mercy and covenant ownership.
Overview
The prayer asks God to set aside His just anger and not hold their iniquity against them forever, resting the appeal on the relationship: 'we are all your people.' This plea for mercy anticipates the gospel promise that in Christ God remembers our sins no more (Hebrews 8:12; Jeremiah 31:34). It models the believer's confidence that God's mercy triumphs for those who are His.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mic 7:18–20Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Ps 79:13Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.
- Ps 74:1–2A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
- Ps 79:5–9How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
- Isa 57:17I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.
- Mal 1:4Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.
- Isa 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Jer 10:24Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
- 2 Pet 2:17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- Isa 63:19We have become like those You never ruled, like those not called by Your name.
- Hab 3:2O LORD, I have heard the report of You; I stand in awe, O LORD, of Your deeds. Revive them in these years; make them known in these years. In Your wrath, remember mercy!
- Rev 20:10And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
- Lam 5:20Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
- Ps 119:94I am Yours; save me, for I have sought Your precepts.
- Ps 38:1A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
- Jer 3:12Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
- Isa 60:10Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.
- Ps 6:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
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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 64:9 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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