1 I f only You would tear open the heavens and come down! The mountains would shake before You,

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

2 a s when fire burns the wood and causes the water to boil. Come and make Your name known to those who are against you, that the nations may shake in fear before You!

As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

3 W hen You did powerful things which we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains shook before You.

When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

4 F rom long ago no ear has heard and no eye has seen any God besides You, Who works for those who wait for Him.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

5 Y ou meet him who finds joy in doing what is right and good, who remembers You in Your ways. See, You were angry because we sinned. We have been sinning for a long time, and will we be saved?

Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

6 A ll of us have become like one who is unclean. All our right and good works are like dirty pieces of cloth. And all of us dry up like a leaf. Our sins take us away like the wind.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

7 T here is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us, and have given us over to the power of our sins.

And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

8 B ut now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are our pot maker. All of us are the work of Your hand.

But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

9 D o not be so angry, O Lord. Do not remember our sin forever. Look now, all of us are Your people.

Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

10 Y our holy cities have become a waste place. Zion has become a waste place. Jerusalem lies destroyed.

Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11 O ur holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, has been burned by fire. And all our things of great worth have been destroyed.

Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

12 W ill You do nothing after seeing these things, O Lord? Will You keep quiet and make us suffer even more?

Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord ? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?