1 Oh that you would tear the heavens,
that you would come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence.
2 As when fire kindles the brushwood,
and the fire causes the water to boil;
Make your name known to your adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for,
you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 For from of old men have not heard,
nor perceived by the ear,
nor has the eye seen a God besides you,
who works for him who waits for him.
5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned.
We have been in sin for a long time.
Shall we be saved?
6 For we have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf;
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name,
who stirs himself up to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.
8 But now, Yahweh, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you our potter.
We all are the work of your hand.
9 Don’t be furious, Yahweh,
and don’t remember iniquity forever.
Look and see, we beg 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, where our fathers praised you,
is burned with fire;
and all our pleasant places are laid waste.
12 Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh?
Will you keep silent, and punish us very severely?