Isaiah 64:6 - Exposition

But we are all as an unclean thing ; rather, we are all become as one who is unclean (comp. Isaiah 35:8 ; Isaiah 52:1 ). A moral leprosy is upon us. We are like the leprous man, who has to rend his clothes, and to go about crying " Tame ! tame !" "Unclean: unclean!" that those who hear may get out of his way. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; or, as a menstruous garment (see Lamentations 1:17 ). In the best deeds of the best men there is some taint of evil. As Hooker says, "Our very repentances require to be repented of." We all do fade as a leaf (comp. Isaiah 1:30 , "Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth;" see also Isaiah 34:4 ). Our iniquities … have taken as away; or, carried us away ; i.e. taken us far from God, carried us into a region where God is not, or where at any rate "his presence is not felt" (Cheyne).