Bible Strands
Isaiah 64:1
If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses God directly in a petition, asking for a dramatic manifestation of power that will reveal His name to hostile nations.
The words — The Hebrew קָרַ֤עְתָּ (ka.Ra'ṭā) means "you tore" and יָרַ֔דְתָּ (ya.Raḏṭā) means "you came down," pairing a violent tearing action with a downward movement. The particle לוּא־ (lu'-) frames the entire line as a conditional wish for this specific divine action.
The thread — God's descent to shake the earth appears in Micah 1:3 and Nahum 1:5, while His fiery arrival on Mount Sinai is recorded in Exodus 19:18. The shared imagery of mountains quaking at His presence links these texts.
Why it lands — The text states that only God's disruptive, visible presence can make His name known to the nations. It requires the reader to acknowledge human inability to force spiritual renewal and to await divine intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
Cross-references
- Micah 1:3 For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
- Exodus 19:18 Mount 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.
- Nahum 1:5 The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- Mark 1:10 As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens breaking open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.
- Revelation 20:11 Then 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.
- Psalms 68:8 the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
- Psalms 144:5 Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Isaiah 63:15 Look 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.
- Habakkuk 3:1 This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:
- Exodus 3:8 I 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.