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Selected Verse: Isaiah 64:8 - Basic English
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 64:8 |
Basic English |
But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand. |
| |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
father-- (Isa 63:16).
clay . . . potter-- (Isa 29:16; Isa 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." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
But now, O Lord, thou art our Father - (See the notes at Isa 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 Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9).
And thou our potter - Thou hast power to mould us as the potter does the clay.
And we all are the work of thy hand - That is, as the vessel made by the potter is his work. We have been formed by thee, and we are dependent on thee to make us what thou wilt have us to be. This whole verse is an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God. It expresses the feeling which all have when under conviction of sin; and when they are sensible that they are exposed to the divine displeasure for their transgressions. Then they feel that if they are to be saved, it must be by the mere sovereignty of God; and then they implore his interposition to 'mould and guide them at his will.' |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
our father
Here the reference is to relationship through creation, rather than through faith, as in (Act 17:28); (Act 17:29).
(See Scofield) - (Act 17:29). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Our father - Notwithstanding all this thou art our father both by creation, and by adoption, therefore pity us thy children. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
But, 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 increase, when they recollect the desolations of the temple, and ruin of public worship, Isa 64:11 : "Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire," etc.
We all are the work of thy hand - Three MSS. (two of them ancient) and the Septuagint read מעשה maaseh, the work, without the conjunction ו vau prefixed. And for ידך yadecha, thy hand, the Bodleian, and two others MSS., the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read ידיך yadeycha, thy hands, in the plural number. - L. |
9 Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped?
16 You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge?
16 For you are our father, though Abraham has no knowledge of us, and Israel gives no thought to us: you, O Lord, are our father; from the earliest days you have taken up our cause.
9 Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped?
16 You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge?
16 For you are our father, though Abraham has no knowledge of us, and Israel gives no thought to us: you, O Lord, are our father; from the earliest days you have taken up our cause.
29 If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man.
29 If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man.
28 For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring.
11 Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction.