1  OH, THAT You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake {and} flow down at Your presence--

 

2  As when fire kindles the brushwood and the fire causes the waters to boil--to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!

 

3  When You did terrible things which we did not expect, You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.

 

4  For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works {and} shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him.

 

5  You meet {and} spare him who joyfully works righteousness (uprightness and justice), [earnestly] remembering You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned; we have long continued in our sins [prolonging Your anger]. And shall we be saved?

 

6  For we have all become like one who is unclean [ceremonially, like a leper], and all our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags {or} a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from God's favor, hurrying us toward destruction].

 

7  And no one calls on Your name and awakens {and} bestirs himself to take {and} keep hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the [consuming] power of our iniquities.

 

8  Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand.

 

9  Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, or [seriously] remember iniquity forever. Behold, consider, we beseech You, we are all Your people.

 

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

 

11  Our holy and our beautiful house, [the temple] where our fathers praised You, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant {and} desirable places are in ruins.

 

12  Considering these [calamities], will You restrain Yourself, O Lord [and not come to our aid]? Will You keep silent {and} not command our deliverance but humble {and} afflict us exceedingly?