1Oh, that You would burst open the heavens, that You would come down, causing the mountains to tremble and melt at Your presence, 2Like when a fire burns, and causes the waters to boil, to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may quake at Your presence! 3When You did awesome things which we did not anticipate; You came down; the mountains melted at Your presence. 4For since the beginning of time, men have not heard, nor perceived, nor has the eye seen, any god beside You, Who acts for those who wait upon and trusts in Him. 5You welcome those who rejoice in You and work righteousness, those who remember You and walk in Your ways; but we have sinned, and now You are angry. How, then, can we be saved? 6All of us have become unclean; and all our righteous acts are as filthy rags; and we all shrivel up like a leaf, and our iniquities have swept us away like the wind, 7And there is none that call upon Your name, that strives to reach out to You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have turned us over to our sins. 8But yet, 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 so angry with us, O LORD, nor remember our trespasses forever. Look upon us, we beseech You, we are all Your people. 10Your holy cities have become a wilderness, even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem is desolate. 11Our holy and glorious Temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned down, and all that we treasured has been laid waste. 12After all this, will You hold back, Oh LORD? Will You keep silent, and continue to punish us so severely?