Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 64:4

"For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him." — Isaiah 64:4 (ASV)

For since the beginning of the world - This verse is quoted, though not literally, by the apostle Paul as illustrating the effects of the gospel in producing happiness and salvation (see the notes at 1 Corinthians 2:9).

The meaning here is that nowhere else among people had there been such blessings imparted and such happiness enjoyed, or so many proofs of love and protection, as among those who were the people of God and who feared Him.

Men have not heard - In no nation in all past time have deeds been heard of such as You have performed.

Nor perceived by the ear - Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9) renders this neither have entered into the heart of man, which, Lowth says, “is a phrase purely Hebrew and which seems to belong to the prophet.”

The phrase, “Nor perceived by the ear,” Lowth says, is repeated without force or propriety. He seems to suppose that this place has been either willfully corrupted by the Jews, or that Paul made his quotation from some Apocryphal book—either the Ascension of Isaiah, or the Apocalypse of Elias—in both of which the passage is found as quoted by Paul.

The phrase is wholly omitted by the Septuagint and the Arabic but is found in the Vulgate and Syriac. There is no authority from the Hebrew manuscripts to omit it.

Neither has the eye seen - The margin here undoubtedly expresses the true sense. So Lowth renders it, “Nor has the eye seen a God beside You, who does such things for those that trust in Him.”

In a similar manner, the Septuagint translates it, “Neither have our eyes seen a God beside You (οὐδὲ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἡμῶν εἶδον θεὸν πλήν σου oude hoi ophthalmoi hēmōn eidon theon plēn sou), and Your works which You have done for those who wait for mercy.”

The sense is, no eye had ever seen such a God as Yahweh, one who so richly rewarded those who put their trust in Him. In the Hebrew, the word rendered “O God” may be in either the accusative or vocative case. The sense is that Yahweh was a more glorious rewarder and protector than any of the gods that had ever been worshipped by the nations.

What He has prepared - Hebrew, יעשׂה ya‛ăs'eh — “He does,” or will do. So the Septuagint, Ἅ ποιήσεις Ha poiēseis — “What You will do.”

The sense given by our translators—“What He has prepared”—has been evidently adopted to accommodate the passage to the sense given by Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9), ἅἠτοίμασεν, κ.τ.λ. ha ētoimasen, etc., What God has prepared.

But the idea in the Hebrew is not what God has prepared or laid up in the sense of preserving it for the future, but what He had already done in the past. No god had done what He had; no human being had ever witnessed such manifestations from any other god.

For him that waits for Him - Lowth and Noyes: “For him who trusts in Him.” Paul renders this, For them that love Him, and it is evident that he did not intend to quote this literally but meant to give the general sense.

The idea in the Hebrew is, “For him who waits (למחכה limchakēh) for Yahweh,” that is, who feels his helplessness and relies on Him to interpose and save him. Piety is often represented as an attitude of waiting on God (Psalms 25:3), (Psalms 25:5), (Psalms 25:21); (Psalms 27:14); (Psalms 37:9); (Psalms 130:5).

The sense of the whole verse is that God in His past dealings had given manifestations of His existence, power, and goodness to those who were His friends, which had been furnished nowhere else.

To those interpositions the suppliants appeal as a reason why He should again interpose and why He should save them in their heavy calamities.