2 * as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

to make thy name known to thy adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at thy presence!

3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,

thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.

4 From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides thee,

who works for those who wait for him.

5 Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness,

those that remember thee in thy ways.

Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?z

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 that calls upon thy name,

that bestirs himself to take hold of thee;

for thou hast hid thy face from us,

and hast delivered* us into the hand of our iniquities.