1Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down,

That the mountains might quake at Your presence--

2As [sure 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!

3When You did awesome and amazing things which we did not expect,

You came down [at Sinai]; the mountains quaked at Your presence.

4For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived,

Nor has the eye [a]seen a God besides You,

Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him.

5You meet him who rejoices in doing that which is morally right,

Who remembers You in Your ways.

Indeed, You were angry, for we sinned;

We have long continued in our sins [prolonging Your anger].

And shall we be saved [under such circumstances]?

6For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper],

And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags;

We all wither and decay like a leaf,

And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God’s favor, toward destruction].

7There is no one who calls on Your name,

Who awakens and causes himself to take hold of You;

For You have hidden Your face from us

And have handed us over to the [consuming and destructive] power of our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing].

8Yet, O LORD, You are our Father;

We are the clay, and You our Potter,

And we all are the work of Your hand.

9Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD,

Do not remember our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] forever.

Now look, consider, for we are all Your people.

10[b]Your holy cities have become a wilderness,

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11Our holy and beautiful house [the temple built by Solomon],

Where our fathers praised You,

Has been burned by fire;

And all our precious objects are in ruins.

12Considering these [tragedies], will You restrain Yourself, O LORD [and not help us]?

Will You keep silent and humiliate and oppress us beyond measure?