Isaiah 64:1

The people’s desire was not merely for God to ‘look down’ from heaven (see Isaiah 63:15). The prayer is now the more urgent request to ‘come down’.

• A ‘hole in the sky’ expresses the thought that the sky hides God from human sight. So the sky seems like a curtain (see Psalms 18:9 and Psalms 144:5). To ‘tear a hole’ is a wish that is full of emotion.

• What seems solid and permanent, like a mountain, will shake powerfully (see Exodus 19:18; Psalms 18:7).