[1] Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence—
[2] As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
[3] When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.
[4] For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
[5] You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?
[6] For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
[7] There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.
[8] But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.
[9] Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.
[10] Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
[11] Our holy and beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has been burned by fire; And all our precious things have become a ruin.
[12] Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O LORD? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?