1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down,
that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil,
to make thy name known to thine adversaries,
that the nations may tremble 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 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,
neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee,
what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,
those that remember thee in thy ways:
behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned:
in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
6 But we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf;
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name,
that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee:
for thou hast hid thy face from us,
and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord, thou art our father;
we are the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all are the work of thy hand.
9 Be not wroth very sore, O Lord,
neither remember iniquity for ever:
behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house,
where our fathers praised thee,
is burned up with fire:
and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord?
wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?