64 e If only You would tear the heavens open

and come down, f

so that mountains would quake at Your presence g—

2 h as fire kindles the brushwood,

and fire causes water to boil—

to make Your name known to Your enemies,

so that nations will tremble at Your presence!

3 When You did awesome works i

that we did not expect,

You came down, j

and the mountains quaked at Your presence.

4 From ancient times no one has heard,

no one has listened,

no eye has seen any God except You,

who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him. k

5 You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;

they remember You in Your ways.

But we have sinned, and You were angry.

How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? l

6 All of us have become like something * unclean,

and all our righteous acts are like a polluted m garment; n

all of us wither like a leaf, o

and our iniquities p carry us away like the wind.

7 No one calls on Your name,

striving to take hold of You.

For You have hidden Your face from us q

and made us melt because of r s our iniquity.

8 Yet Lord, You are our Father; t

we are the clay, and You are our potter;

we all are the work of Your hands. u

9 Lord, do not be terribly angry

or remember our iniquity forever. v

Please look—all of us are Your people!

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;

* Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation. w

11 Our holy and beautiful x temple,

where our fathers praised You,

has been burned with fire,

and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. y

12 Lord, after all this, will You restrain Yourself?

Will You keep silent and afflict severely? z