New English Translation
Isaiah 64:6
6We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.
Isaiah 64:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
- New International Version (NIV)All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
- English Standard Version (ESV)We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
- New King James Version (NKJV)But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
Context of Isaiah 64:6
4Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who intervenes for those who wait for him. 5You assist those who delight in doing what is right, who observe your commandments. Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind. 7No one invokes your name, or makes an effort to take hold of you. For you have rejected us and handed us over to our own sins. 8Yet, Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor.
Read all of Isaiah 64Isaiah 64:6 word by word
וַנְּהִ֤י כַטָּמֵא֙ כֻּלָּ֔נוּ וּכְבֶ֥גֶד עִדִּ֖ים כָּל־צִדְקֹתֵ֑ינוּ וַנָּ֤בֶל כֶּֽעָלֶה֙ כֻּלָּ֔נוּ וַעֲוֹנֵ֖נוּ כָּר֥וּחַ יִשָּׂאֻֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- But we are all as an uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · uncleanH2931
- and all our righteousnessesצְדָקָהtsedâqâh · righteousnessH6666
- as filthyעִדָּה‛êd · menstruationH5708
- ragsבֶּ֫גֶדbeged · garmentH899
- and we all do fadeבָּלַלbâlal · to mixH1101
- and we all do fadeנָבֵלnâbêl · to witherH5034
- as a leafעָלֶה‛âleh · leafH5929
- and our iniquitiesעָוֺן‛âvôn ‛âvôn · iniquity: crimeH5771
- like the windרוּחַrûach · spirit: breathH7307
- have taken us awayנָשָׂאnâώâ' nâsâh · to lift: bearH5375
Cross-references for Isaiah 64:6
- Isaiah 6:5I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.”
- Isaiah 53:6All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.
- Job 14:4Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one!
- Job 15:14What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
- Job 25:4How then can a human being be righteous before God? How can one born of a woman be pure?
- Job 40:4“Indeed, I am completely unworthy – how could I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth to silence myself.
- Job 42:5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen you.
- Psalms 51:5Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.
- Romans 7:18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.
- Ephesians 2:1And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
- Isaiah 57:12I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, but they will not help you.
- Zechariah 3:3Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel.
- Philippians 3:9and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.
- Revelation 3:17Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing,” but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,
- Revelation 7:13Then one of the elders asked me, “These dressed in long white robes – who are they and where have they come from?”
- Isaiah 40:6A voice says, “Cry out!” Another asks, “What should I cry out?” The first voice responds: “All people are like grass, and all their promises are like the flowers in the field.
Commentaries on Isaiah 64:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6As filthy rags - עדים iddim . Rab. Mosheh ben Maimon interpretatur עדים iddim, vestes quibus mulier se abstergit post congressum cum marito suo. Alii pannus menstruatus. Alii panni mulieris parientis. - And we ben made as unclene alle we: and as the cloth of the woman rooten blode flowing, all our rigtwisnesses. - Old MS. Bible. If preachers knew properly the meaning of this word, would they make such a liberal use of it in their public ministry? And why…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6But we are all as an unclean thing - We are all polluted and defiled. The word used here (טמא ṭâmē' ), means properly that which is polluted and defiled in a Levitical sense; that is, which was regarded as polluted and abominable by the law of Moses Leviticus 5:2; Deuteronomy 14:19, and may refer to animals, people, or things; also in a moral sense Job 14:4. The sense is, that they regarded themselves as wholly polluted and depraved. And all our…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-12Verses 6-12 The people of God, in affliction, confess and bewail their sins, owning themselves unworthy of his mercy. Sin is that abominable thing which the Lord hates. Our deeds, whatever they may seem to be, if we think to merit by them at God's hand, are as rags, and will not cover us; filthy rags, and will but defile us. Even our few good works in which there is real excellence, as fruits of the Spirit, are so defective and defiled as done by us, that…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5-6we remain in our sins … like something unclean: See also Isaiah 59:1–15. The only hope for salvation and transformation is through Jesus Christ (see Romans 7:25–8:11).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. unclean thing--legally unclean, as a leper. True of Israel, everywhere now cut off by unbelief and by God's judgments from the congregation of the saints. righteousness--plural, "uncleanness" extended to every particular act of theirs, even to their prayers and praises. True of the best doings of the unregenerate (Php 3:6-8; Tit 1:15; He 11:6). filthy rags--literally, a "menstruous rag" (Le 15:33; 20:18; La 1:17). fade ... leaf--(Psa 90:5, 6).Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 64:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 64
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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