Isaiah 64 · Verse 6

Isaiah 64:6

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.
Isaiah 64:6, King James Version

Isaiah 64:6 in other translations

BSBEach 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.
WEBFor we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
ASVFor we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
YLTAnd we are as unclean--all of us, And as a garment passing away, all our righteous acts; And we fade as a leaf--all of us. And our iniquities as wind do take us away.
DARBYAnd we are all become as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away;
BBEFor we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.
WebsterBut 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.

What does Isaiah 64:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. unclean thing--legally unclean, as a leper. True of Israel, everywhere now cut off by unbelief and by God's judgments from the congregation of the saints. righteousness--plural, "uncleanness" extended to every particular act of theirs, even to their prayers and praises. True of the best doings of the unregenerate (Php 3:6-8; Tit 1:15; He 11:6). filthy rags--literally, a "menstruous rag" (Le 15:33; 20:18; La 1:17). fade ... leaf--(Psa 90:5, 6).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 As filthy rags - עדים iddim. Rab. Mosheh ben Maimon interpretatur עדים iddim, vestes quibus mulier se abstergit post congressum cum marito suo. Alii pannus menstruatus. Alii panni mulieris parientis. - And we ben made as unclene alle we: and as the cloth of the woman rooten blode flowing, all our rigtwisnesses. - Old MS. Bible. If preachers knew properly the meaning of this word, would they make such a liberal use of it in their public ministry? And why should any use a word, the meaning of which he does not understand? How many in the congregation blush for the incautious man and his "filthy rags!"

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 64:6-12
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 they need to be washed in the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. It bodes ill when prayer is kept back. To pray, is by faith to take hold of the promises the Lord has made of his good-will to us, and to plead them; to take hold of him, earnestly begging him not to leave us; or soliciting his return. They brought their troubles upon themselves by their own folly. Sinners are blasted, and then carried away, by the wind of their own iniquity; it withers and then ruins them. When they made themselves as an unclean thing, no wonder that God loathed them. Foolish and careless as we are, poor and despised, yet still Thou art our Father. It is the wrath of a Father we are under, who will be reconciled; and the relief our case requires is expected only from him. They refer themselves to God. They do not say, "Lord, rebuke us not," for that may be necessary; but, "Not in thy displeasure." They state their lamentable condition. See what ruin sin brings upon a people; and an outward profession of holiness will be no defence against it. God's people presume not to tell him what he shall say, but their prayer is, Speak for the comfort and relief of thy people. How few call upon the Lord with their whole hearts, or stir themselves to lay hold upon him! God may delay for a time to answer our prayers, but he will, in the end, answer those who call on his name and hope in his mercy.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Isaiah 64:6 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַנְּהִ֤יva.ne.Hiand we have becomeH1961
כַטָּמֵא֙kha.ta.Me'like <the> unclean [person]H2931
כֻּלָּ֔נוּku.La.nuall of usH3605
וּכְבֶ֥גֶדu.khe.Ve.gedand [are] like a garment ofH899
עִדִּ֖ים'i.Dimmenstruation<s>H5708
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
צִדְקֹתֵ֑ינוּtzid.ko.Tei.nurighteousness<es> ourH6666
וַנָּ֤בֶלva.Na.veland we have witheredH5034
כֶּֽעָלֶה֙ke.'a.Lehlike <the> leafageH5929
כֻּלָּ֔נוּku.La.nuall of usH3605
וַעֲוֹנֵ֖נוּva.'a.vo.Ne.nuand iniquities ourH5771
כָּר֥וּחַka.Ru.achlike the windH7307
יִשָּׂאֻֽנוּ\׃yi.sa.'U.nuthey carry off usH5375

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 64:6

  • Romans 7:18

    For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

  • Romans 7:24

    O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

  • Ephesians 2:1-2

    And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

  • Revelation 3:17-18

    Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

  • Zechariah 3:3

    Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

  • Isaiah 53:6

    All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

  • Job 42:5-6

    I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

  • Titus 3:3

    For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

  • Job 25:4

    How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

  • Job 14:4

    Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

  • Philippians 3:9

    And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

  • Isaiah 46:12

    Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
are all.
6:5; 53:6; Job 14:4; 15:14-16; 25:4; 40:4; 42:5,6; Ps 51:5
Ro 7:18,24; Eph 2:1,2; Tit 3:3
all our.
57:12; Zec 3:3; Php 3:9; Re 3:17,18; 7:13
we all.
40:6-8; Ps 90:5,6; Jas 1:10,11; 1Pe 1:24,25
our iniquities.
57:13; Ps 1:4; Jer 4:11,12; Ho 4:19; Zec 5:8-11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 64:5

    Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

  • Isaiah 64:6

    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.

  • Isaiah 64:7

    And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

Read all of Isaiah 64

Isaiah 64:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Si bien todos nosotros somos como suciedad, y todas nuestras justicias como trapo de inmundicia; y caímos todos nosotros como la hoja, y nuestras maldades nos llevaron como viento.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		et il n’y a personne qui invoque ton nom, qui se réveille pour te saisir! Car tu as caché ta face de nous, et tu nous as fait fondre par nos iniquités.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und wir allesamt sind dem Unreinen gleich geworden, und alle unsere Gerechtigkeiten gleich einem unflätigen Kleide; und wir verwelkten allesamt wie ein Blatt, und unsere Missetaten rafften uns dahin wie der Wind.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et facti sumus ut immundus omnes nos, et quasi pannus menstruatæ universæ justitiæ nostræ; et cecidimus quasi folium universi, et iniquitates nostræ quasi ventus abstulerunt nos.