Isaiah 64:8

Christian Standard Bible ®

Yet Lord, you are our Father;we are the clay, and you are our potter;we all are the work of your hands.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
But now, LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

King James Version
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.

English Standard Version
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 American Standard Bible
But now, LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter, And all of us are the work of Your hand.

New Century Version
But Lord , you are our father. We are like clay, and you are the potter; your hands made us all.

Amplified Bible
Yet, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our Potter, And we all are the work of Your hand.

World English Bible
But now, Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But now, O Lord, thou art our Father: we are the clay, and thou art our potter, and we all are the worke of thine hands.

Legacy Standard Bible
But now, O Yahweh, You are our Father;We are the clay, and You our potter;And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Berean Standard Bible
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Contemporary English Version
You, Lord , are our Father. We are nothing but clay, but you are the potter who molded us.

Complete Jewish Bible
Do not be so very angry, Adonai ! Don't remember crime forever. Look, please, we are all your people.

Darby Translation
And now, Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Easy-to-Read Version
But, Lord , you are our father. We are like clay, and you are the potter. Your hands made us all.

George Lamsa Translation
But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we are all the work of thy hand.

Good News Translation
But you are our father, Lord . We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us,

Lexham English Bible
Yet now Yahweh, you are our father; we are the clay and you are our potter, and we all are the work of your hand.

Literal Translation
But now, Jehovah, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are our Former; yea, we all are Your handiwork.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But now o LORDE, thou father of ours: we are the claye, and thou art oure potter, and we all are the worke of thy hondes.

American Standard Version
But now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Bible in 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.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever; behold, look, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people.

King James Version (1611)
But now, O Lord, thou art our father: we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we all are the worke of thine hand.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But nowe, O Lorde, thou father of ours, we are thy clay, and thou art our potter, and we all are the worke of thy handes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And now, O Lord, thou art our Father, and we are clay, all of us the work of thine hands.

English Revised Version
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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And now, Lord, thou art oure fadir; forsothe we ben cley, and thou art oure maker, and alle we ben the werkis of thin hondis.

Update Bible Version
But now, O Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and all of us are the work of your hand.

Webster's Bible Translation
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 English Translation
Yet, Lord , you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor.

New King James Version
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.

New Living Translation
And yet, O Lord , you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.

New Life Bible
But now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are our pot maker. All of us are the work of Your hand.

New Revised Standard
Yet, O Lord , you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, now, O Yahweh, our father, thou art, - We are the clay, and, thou, art our potter, Yea the work of thy hand, are we all:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.

Revised Standard Version
Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand.

Young's Literal Translation
And now, O Jehovah, thou [art] our Father, We [are] the clay, and Thou our Framer, And the work of Thy hand -- all of us.

THE MESSAGE
Still, God , you are our Father. We're the clay and you're our potter: All of us are what you made us. Don't be too angry with us, O God . Don't keep a permanent account of wrongdoing. Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us. Your holy cities are all ghost towns: Zion's a ghost town, Jerusalem's a field of weeds. Our holy and beautiful Temple, which our ancestors filled with your praises, Was burned down by fire, all our lovely parks and gardens in ruins. In the face of all this, are you going to sit there unmoved, God ? Aren't you going to say something? Haven't you made us miserable long enough?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Contextual Overview

⁶All of us have become like something unclean,and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment;all of us wither like a leaf,and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. ⁷No one calls on your name,striving to take hold of you.For you have hidden your face from usand made us melt because of our iniquity. ⁸Yet Lord, you are our Father;we are the clay, and you are our potter;we all are the work of your hands.⁹Lord, do not be terribly angryor remember our iniquity forever.Please look—all of us are your people! ¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness;Zion has become a wilderness,Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹Our holy and beautiful temple,where our fathers praised you,has been burned down,and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. ¹²Lord, after all this, will you restrain yourself?Will you keep silent and afflict us severely?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou art: Isaiah 63:16, Exodus 4:22, Deuteronomy 32:6, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 3:29

are the clay: Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9, Jeremiah 18:2-6, Romans 9:20-24

all are: Isaiah 43:7, Isaiah 44:21, Isaiah 44:24, Job 10:8, Job 10:9, Psalms 100:3, Psalms 119:73, Psalms 138:8, Ephesians 2:10

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:26 - Let us Genesis 2:7 - formed man Genesis 18:27 - dust Job 10:3 - the work Psalms 33:15 - fashioneth Psalms 119:94 - I am thine Jeremiah 3:19 - Thou shalt Jeremiah 18:6 - General Jeremiah 31:9 - for I Jeremiah 32:27 - God Lamentations 2:20 - consider Malachi 1:6 - if then Malachi 2:10 - all Matthew 6:9 - Our Luke 3:38 - of God John 8:41 - we have Romans 9:21 - the potter Hebrews 1:10 - the works

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But now, O Lord, thou art our father,.... Notwithstanding all that we have done against thee, and thou hast done to us, the relation of a father continues; thou art our Father by creation and adoption; as he was in a particular manner to the Jews, to whom belonged the adoption; and therefore this relation is pleaded, that mercy might be shown them; and so the Targum,

"and thou, Lord, thy mercies towards us "are" many (or let them be many) as a father towards "his" children.''

We are the clay, and thou our potter: respecting their original formation out of the dust of the earth; and so expressing humility in themselves, and yet ascribing greatness to God, who had curiously formed them, as the potter out of the clay forms vessels for various uses: it may respect their formation as a body politic and ecclesiastic, which arose from small beginnings, under the power and providence of God; see Deuteronomy 32:6:

and we all are the work of thy hand; and therefore regard us, and destroy us not; as men do not usually destroy their own works: these relations to God, and circumstances in which they were as creatures, and as a body civil and ecclesiastic, are used as arguments for mercy and favour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But 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 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.’

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 64:8. 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, Isaiah 64:11: "Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire," &c.

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.