1Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down! Then the mountains would flow down before you,
2as when a melting fire burns, as the fire makes water boil. Come down to make your name known to your enemies, so that the nations may tremble before you.
3When you did terrible things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains flowed down before you.
4Since the beginning of the world no one has heard, no ear has understood, no eye has seen any God but you, who acts for the one who waits for him.
5You meet the one who is glad and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Look, you were angry, for we have sinned. In these ways we have long gone on, and shall we be saved?
6But we are all like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all wither like a leaf, and our sins, like the wind, have carried us away.
7There is no one who calls on your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us, and have wasted us away because of our sins.
8But now, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are all the work of your hand.
9Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD. Do not remember our sin for ever. Look, see, we beg you: we are all your people.
10Your holy cities have become a desert. Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a ruin.
11Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire. All the things we treasured are laid waste.
12Will you hold yourself back after all this, LORD? Will you keep silent, and afflict us beyond measure?