1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwoodand the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries,and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for,you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From of old no one has heardor perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you,who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,those who remember you in your ways.Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf,and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls upon your name,who rouses himself to take hold of you;for you have hidden your face from us,and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever.Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;Zion has become a wilderness,Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house,where our fathers praised you,has been burned by fire,and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?