Shared ground
Isaiah 64:5 holds together two clear notes. First, God is portrayed as ready to “meet” (welcome and respond to) a person who delights in doing what is right. Second, the praying community admits that their lived reality has been God’s anger alongside their own sin, and they end with a worried question about whether rescue is still possible.
The verse also shows what the community thinks faithful life looks like: “remembering” God “in your ways” (God’s paths, patterns, and expectations). That claim is explicit in the wording.
Where interpretation differs
Some questions arise from the verse’s brief phrasing.
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Who is the “him” God meets? Some read it as an individual example (the kind of person God welcomes). Others read it as a corporate ideal that the community knows it has not lived up to.
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What does “in them … of long time” refer to? Some take “them” to point back to God’s “ways,” meaning the community has long been connected to those ways in some sense (by tradition, covenant, or exposure). Others take “them” to point to sins or the consequences of sin, meaning the community has long persisted in wrongdoing or long endured the results.
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How does God’s anger relate to the sin? Most agree the verse links them closely. Some stress anger as God’s response to sin; others note the line’s compressed style and treat anger, sin, and long duration as parallel realities in the community’s story rather than a step-by-step sequence.
Why the disagreement exists
The Hebrew is compact, with pronouns (“him,” “them”) that can plausibly point to more than one earlier phrase. The last question (“and shall we be saved?”) can also sound either like near-despair or like a bold, urgent plea, depending on how one hears the tone within the larger lament.
What this passage clearly contributes
This verse contributes a grounded picture of God’s character and the community’s predicament without smoothing the tension: God is near and favorable toward those who gladly do right; the community confesses real guilt; and the long duration of their situation makes deliverance feel uncertain. The ending question does not deny God’s ability; it highlights how prolonged wrongdoing (and/or prolonged judgment) strains confidence while still addressing God directly. Isaiah 64:6 immediately deepens the confession, reinforcing that Isaiah 64:5 is meant to be read as part of a corporate admission rather than a detached proverb.
