NET Bible | New Living Translation |
1If only you would tear apart the sky and come down! The mountains would tremble before you! | 1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! |
2As when fire ignites dry wood, or fire makes water boil, let your adversaries know who you are, and may the nations shake at your presence! | 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! |
3When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. | 3When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! |
4Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who intervenes for those who wait for him. | 4For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! |
5You assist those who delight in doing what is right, who observe your commandments. Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? | 5You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? |
6We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind. | 6We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. |
7No one invokes your name, or makes an effort to take hold of you. For you have rejected us and handed us over to our own sins. | 7Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. |
8Yet, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor. | 8And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. |
9LORD, do not be too angry! Do not hold our sins against us continually! Take a good look at your people, at all of us! | 9Don’t be so angry with us, LORD. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. |
10Your chosen cities have become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin. | 10Your holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin. |
11Our holy temple, our pride and joy, the place where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire; all our prized possessions have been destroyed. | 11The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. |
12In light of all this, how can you still hold back, LORD? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us? | 12After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us? |
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