1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, 1 that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze 2 and causes water to boil, 2 come down to make your name known to your enemies 2 and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, 3 you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard, 4 no ear has perceived, 4 no eye has seen any God besides you, 4 who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, 5 who remember your ways. 5 But when we continued to sin against them, 5 you were angry. 5 How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, 6 and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; 6 we all shrivel up like a leaf, 6 and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name 7 or strives to lay hold of you; 7 for you have hidden your face from us 7 and made us waste away because of our sins.
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. 8 We are the clay, you are the potter; 8 we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; 9 do not remember our sins forever. 9 Oh, look upon us, we pray, 9 for we are all your people.
10 Your sacred cities have become a desert; 10 even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you, 11 has been burned with fire, 11 and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 After all this, O Lord, will you hold yourself back? 12 Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
