pOh that you would rend the heavens and come down,

qthat the mountains might quake at your presence—

2  1 as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

rto make your name known to your adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

3  sWhen you did awesome things that we did not look for,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4  tFrom of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

uno 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?2

6  vWe have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

wWe all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7  xThere 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 in3 the hand of our iniquities.

8  yBut now, O Lord, you are our Father;

zwe are the clay, and you are our potter;

awe are all the work of your hand.

9  bBe not so terribly angry, O Lord,

cand remember not iniquity forever.

Behold, please look, we are all your people.

10  dYour holy cities have become a wilderness;

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11  eOur holy and beautiful4 house,

where our fathers praised you,

has been burned by fire,

and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

12  fWill you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?

Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?