Bible Strands

Isaiah 64:6

Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Israel speaks as a collective "we" to God, confessing total moral failure between acknowledging His anger (64:5) and lamenting His hidden face (64:7).

The words — עִדִּים (ʿiddîm) is the noun for "menstrual cloths," a specific, visceral image that English translations soften to "filthy rags." The verb נָבַל (nāḇal), "withered," shares its root with the Hebrew word for "vanity" or "emptiness."

The thread — Paul echoes the same helplessness in Romans 7:18 ("I cannot carry out what is good") and 7:24 ("Who will rescue me?"), and Ephesians 2:1 states the result: "dead in trespasses and sins."

Why it lands — The verse removes every fallback a reader might hold onto: good deeds, moral identity, a sense of progress. It leaves only the question 64:5 already raised: "How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?"

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

וַנְּהִ֤יva./ne.Hiand/ we have becomeכַטָּמֵא֙kha./ta.Me'like <the>/ unclean [person]כֻּלָּ֔נוּku.La./nuall of/ usוּכְבֶ֥גֶדu./khe./Ve.gedand/ [are] like/ a garment ofעִדִּ֖ים'i.Dimmenstruation<s>כָּל־kol-allצִדְקֹתֵ֑ינוּtzid.ko.Tei./nurighteousness<es>/ ourוַנָּ֤בֶלva./Na.veland/ we have witheredכֶּֽעָלֶה֙ke./'a.Lehlike <the>/ leafageכֻּלָּ֔נוּku.La./nuall of/ usוַעֲוֹנֵ֖נוּva./'a.vo.Ne./nuand/ iniquities/ ourכָּר֥וּחַka./Ru.achlike the/ windיִשָּׂאֻֽנוּ׃yi.sa.'U./nuthey carry off/ us

King James Version

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.

Cross-references