1 O that thou wouldst rend the heavens! That thou wouldst come down! That the mountains would flow down at thy presence!

2 As by the burning of a melting fire, [267] The fire hath made the waters to boil, That thou mightst make thy name known to thine adversaries; The nations trembled at thy presence.

3 When thou didst terrible things, Which we looked not for, Thou camest down; The mountains flowed down at thy presence.

4 From of old they have not heard, Nor perceived by the ears; Eye hath not seen a God besides thee, That doeth such things to him that waiteth for him.

5 Thou hast met him that rejoiceth And worketh righteousness; In thy ways they remembered thee; Behold! thou wast angry, And we have sinned; In them is perpetuity, And we shall be saved. [268]

6 And we have all been as the unclean; And all our righteousnesses as a defiled garment; And we all fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, as the wind, Have carried us away.

7 There is none that calleth on thy name, Nor that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; For thou hast hidden thy face from us, And hast made us to languish In the hand of our iniquity.

8 And now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father; We are the clay, And thou our potter; We all are the work of thy hands.

9 Be not angry, O Jehovah, beyond measure; Neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold! see, we beseech thee, We all are thy people.

10 The cities of thy holiness have been a desert; Zion hath been a desert; Jerusalem hath been a wilderness.

11 The house of our sanctuary And of our glory, In which our fathers praised thee, Hath been burnt with fire; And all our desirable things are laid waste.

12 Wilt thou restrain thyself for these things, O Jehovah! Wilt thou be silent? And wilt thou afflict us beyond measure?

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Footnotes:

[267] Or, As by a burning fire that melteth.

[268] Or, We have been saved.