New Living Translation
Isaiah 64:8
8And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.
Isaiah 64:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
- New International Version (NIV)Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
- English Standard Version (ESV)But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
- New King James Version (NKJV)But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Context of Isaiah 64:8
6We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 9Don’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. 10Your holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.
Read all of Isaiah 64Isaiah 64:8 word by word
וְעַתָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אָבִ֣ינוּ אָ֑תָּה אֲנַ֤חְנוּ הַחֹ֙מֶר֙ וְאַתָּ֣ה יֹצְרֵ֔נוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה יָדְךָ֖ כֻּלָּֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 64:8
- Isaiah 63:16Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, Lord, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past.
- Exodus 4:22Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son.
- Deuteronomy 32:6Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?
- Galatians 3:26For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- Isaiah 29:16How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?
- Isaiah 45:9“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’
- Jeremiah 18:2“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”
- Romans 9:20No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”
- Isaiah 43:7Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’”
- Isaiah 44:21“Pay attention, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I, the Lord, made you, and I will not forget you.
- Job 10:8“‘You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me.
- Psalms 100:3Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
- Psalms 119:73You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.
- Psalms 138:8The Lord will work out his plans for my life— for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
- Ephesians 2:10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Commentaries on Isaiah 64:8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8But, now, O Lord, thou art our Father "But thou, O Jehovah, thou art our Father" - For ועתה veattah, and now, five MSS., one of them ancient, and the two oldest editions, 1486 and 1488, have ואתה veattah, and thou, and so the Chaldee seems to have read. The repetition has great force. The other word may be well spared. "But now, O Lord, thou art our Father." How very affectionate is the complaint in this and the following verses! But how does the distress…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8But now, O Lord, thou art our Father - (See the notes at Isaiah 63:16). We are the clay - The idea seems to be, that their condition then had been produced by him as clay is moulded by the potter, and that they were to be returned and restored entirely by him - as they had no more power to do it than the clay had to shape itself. The sense is, that they were wholly in his hand and at his disposal (see the notes at Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9). And thou 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. 8clay … potter: See also Isaiah 29:16; 45:9; Romans 9:20–21.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. father--(Is 63:16). clay ... potter--(Is 29:16; 45:9). Unable to mould themselves aright, they beg the sovereign will of God to mould them unto salvation, even as He made them at the first, and is their "Father."Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 64:8
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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries