בַּעֲשֹׂותְךָ֥ נֹורָאֹ֖ות לֹ֣א נְקַוֶּ֑ה יָרַ֕דְתָּ מִפָּנֶ֖יךָ הָרִ֥ים נָזֹֽלּוּ׃
(Isaiah 64:2)
When You did awesome things we did not expect, You came down — from before You the mountains quaked and flowed.
Word-by-Word Explanation
- בַּעֲשֹׂותְךָ — “when You did.” Preposition בְּ (“in, when”) + infinitive construct of עָשָׂה (“to do, make”) + suffix -ךָ (“You,” masculine). Idiomatically: “when You did.”
- נֹורָאֹות — “awesome things / fearful deeds.” Plural noun from יָרֵא (“to fear”), describing acts that inspire awe and dread.
- לֹא נְקַוֶּה — “we did not hope / expect.” Negation לֹא + verb נְקַוֶּה, Niphal imperfect 1cp from קָוָה (“to wait, hope”). Here: “we had not anticipated.”
- יָרַדְתָּ — “You came down.” Qal perfect 2ms from יָרַד (“to descend”). Refers to God’s descent in power.
- מִפָּנֶיךָ — “from before You.” Preposition מִן + noun פָּנִים (“face, presence”) with suffix -ךָ (“You”).
- הָרִים — “mountains.” Plural of הָר (“mountain”).
- נָזֹלוּ — “flowed / melted.” Qal perfect 3mp from נָזַל (“to flow, trickle, melt away”). Here vividly portraying mountains trembling and dissolving at God’s presence.
Word Order and Sentence Flow
The poetic line runs like a sequence of shocks:
- בַּעֲשֹׂותְךָ נֹורָאֹות לֹא נְקַוֶּה — “When You did awesome things we had not expected…”
- יָרַדְתָּ — “…You came down…”
- מִפָּנֶיךָ הָרִים נָזֹלוּ — “…before You the mountains flowed/melted.”
Notice how the verse begins with God’s unexpected deeds, climaxes with His descent, and ends with nature’s dramatic reaction.
Poetic Imagery Chart
| Divine Action | Human Response | Natural Response |
|---|---|---|
| בַּעֲשֹׂותְךָ נֹורָאֹות When You did awesome things |
לֹא נְקַוֶּה We did not expect |
מִפָּנֶיךָ הָרִים נָזֹלוּ The mountains flowed before You |
How the Sentence Works
- Infinitive construct: בַּעֲשֹׂותְךָ shows Hebrew’s way of saying “when You did…”
- Unexpected deeds: לֹא נְקַוֶּה highlights surprise — “we did not anticipate.”
- Nature personified: הָרִים נָזֹלוּ pictures mountains trembling, almost melting like wax.
Now You See the Structure
This verse reveals how Hebrew poetry compresses awe, surprise, and cosmic imagery into a single line. You learned how infinitive constructs set up timing, how verbs in the perfect tense narrate completed events, and how nouns like נֹורָאֹות carry emotional force. By unpacking these elements, you’ve watched God descend and mountains melt — all through Hebrew grammar.
“Hebrew poetry takes grand images and condenses them into a few short words — every verb carries thunder.”
