1 Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—

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

2 As fire kindles brushwood and causes water to boil, make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations may tremble at your presence.

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 From ancient times, no ear has heard, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

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

4 You meet those who delight in doing righteousness and remember your ways. But when you were angry, we sinned; in our sins we have been for a long time. Can we still be saved?

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 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. We wither like a leaf, and our sins carry us away like the wind.

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 No one calls on your name or rouses themselves to take hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us and have melted us away in the grip of our sins.

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 But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands.

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 Do not be exceedingly angry, LORD, and do not remember our sins forever. Behold us, we are all your people.

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 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.

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

10 Our holy and glorious house, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.

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

11 For these things, will you restrain yourself, LORD? Will you remain silent and afflict us so severely?

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