Introduction: Lament, Agency, and Theological Crisis in Exilic Prayer
Isaiah 64 is a communal lament expressing deep anguish over Israel’s estrangement from YHWH. Verse 6 (English: v.7) articulates both divine silence and human inability. The verse reads:
וְאֵין־קֹורֵ֣א בְשִׁמְךָ֔ מִתְעֹורֵ֖ר לְהַחֲזִ֣יק בָּ֑ךְ כִּֽי־הִסְתַּ֤רְתָּ פָנֶ֨יךָ֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וַתְּמוּגֵ֖נוּ בְּיַד־עֲוֹנֵֽנוּ׃
And there is no one who calls on Your name, who rouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have melted us away in the hand of our iniquities.
The grammar of this verse serves a dual theological function: it expresses human passivity and divine withdrawal. Through a carefully structured sequence of participles, reflexive forms, and causative verbs, the syntax frames the theological tension of divine hiddenness and the collapse of covenantal engagement. It also uses rare verbal stems to express inner weakening, underscoring a theology of judgment-through-abandonment.
Grammatical Feature Analysis: Reflexives, Passives, and Participles
The opening clause וְאֵין־קֹורֵ֣א בְשִׁמְךָ features the qal participle ms קֹורֵא (“calling”) with the negative existential אֵין, meaning “There is no one who calls upon Your name.” This expresses an ongoing condition: persistent absence of prayer or invocation.
The second clause מִתְעֹורֵ֖ר לְהַחֲזִ֣יק בָּ֑ךְ continues with a hitpael participle of ע־ו־ר (“to awaken”), describing one who “rouses himself” or “stirs himself” to seize YHWH. The reflexive stem emphasizes internal initiative. The infinitive לְהַחֲזִיק (“to take hold of”) is hiphil of ח־ז־ק, functioning as the goal of this awakening: spiritual resolve and covenantal attachment.
Together, these clauses depict a complete failure in human agency—no one is praying, no one is rousing themselves spiritually. The absence of subjects performing these participles turns theology into tragedy: abandonment is mutual, though asymmetrical.
The causal clause כִּי־הִסְתַּ֤רְתָּ פָנֶ֨יךָ֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ uses the hitpael perfect 2ms of ס־ת־ר (“to hide”), expressing God’s self-withdrawal: “You have hidden Your face from us.” In the hitpael, this verb suggests deliberate concealment, not merely reaction.
The final clause וַתְּמוּגֵ֖נוּ בְּיַד־עֲוֹנֵֽנוּ uses the pual perfect 2ms with 1cp suffix of מוּג (“to melt, dissolve”). This rare passive stem emphasizes the helpless disintegration of the people. The phrase בְּיַד־עֲוֹנֵינוּ (“in the hand of our iniquities”) is paradoxical: the subject is passive, yet the agent is their own sin, personified as a power or force. The image is that of a people softened and weakened—not by enemy armies, but by the cumulative weight of their guilt.
Exegetical Implications: Agency, Abandonment, and Intercession
The use of reflexive and participial constructions reveals a theology of paralysis: Israel is unable to initiate return. The failure is not merely moral, but existential—there is no one who can respond, because the capacity to rouse oneself has evaporated. The absence of intercessors echoes similar themes in Isaiah 59:16 and Ezekiel 22:30.
The withdrawal of divine presence—הִסְתַּרְתָּ פָנֶיךָ—is covenantally catastrophic. In Torah, the hiding of YHWH’s face is the final stage of judgment (Deut. 31:17–18), signaling abandonment and the collapse of relational reciprocity. The verse thus reaches the theological nadir of exile: no prayer, no pursuit, no presence.
The passive verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ captures the emotional and theological devastation. Unlike the stronger שָׁחַת (“to destroy”) or כָּרַת (“to cut off”), מוּג conveys internal collapse—a slow melting, an irreversible loss of moral cohesion.
Cross-Linguistic and Literary Parallels
The use of reflexive and passive forms to express divine abandonment is not unique to Hebrew. In Akkadian laments, verbs of concealment (e.g., istētû panūšu, “he turned away his face”) convey similar theology: the god no longer looks upon the worshiper. In Ugaritic texts, divine silence is a literary signal of disrupted cosmic order.
The Septuagint renders the verse with interpretive paraphrase: καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐπικαλούμενος τὸ ὄνομά σου (“there is none who calls upon your name”), maintaining the participial force and drawing attention to the relational breakdown.
Theological and Literary Significance of the Syntax of Silence
The verse is syntactically arranged to create a theological cascade: absence of intercession leads to divine concealment, which results in spiritual dissolution. The absence of finite active verbs for human action sharpens the picture of helplessness. The only finite verbs are divine—and they are verbs of withdrawal and judgment.
Isaiah’s lament is thus a call not only for forgiveness but for re-initiation. The reflexive verb מִתְעֹורֵר reminds the reader that what is needed is not external rescue alone but inner revival. Yet even this cannot occur unless YHWH turns His face again toward His people.
Syntax of Despair, Syntax of Hope Deferred
Isaiah 64:6 weaves participles, reflexives, and passives into a grammar of theological abandonment. It voices the horror of divine silence and the spiritual inertia of exile. Yet within this structured despair lies a paradox: by naming God’s hiddenness, the speaker still seeks Him. Thus, even the language of paralysis may become the first gesture toward grace—if YHWH chooses once again to reveal His face.
