1
If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
2
as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence!
3
When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.
4
From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.(a)
5
You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;(b) we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
7
No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand (c) of our iniquity.
8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
9
Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
10
Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
11
Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
12
After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
Footnotes