1 O h, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake and flow down at Your presence—

2 A s when fire kindles the brushwood and the fire causes the waters to boil—to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!

3 W hen You did terrible things which we did not expect, You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.

4 F or from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who waits for Him.

5 Y ou meet and spare him who joyfully works righteousness (uprightness and justice), remembering You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned; we have long continued in our sins. And shall we be saved?

6 F or we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 A nd no one calls on Your name and awakens and bestirs himself to take and keep hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

8 Y et, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand.

9 D o not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, or remember iniquity forever. Behold, consider, we beseech You, we are all Your people.

10 Y our holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11 O ur holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant and desirable places are in ruins.

12 C onsidering these, will You restrain Yourself, O Lord ? Will You keep silent and not command our deliverance but humble and afflict us exceedingly?