1 O that you would split open the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence.

2 Be like the fire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil. Come down to make your name known to your enemies. The nations may tremble in your presence.

3 When you did awe-inspiring things that we did not expect, you came down and the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 No one has ever heard and no one has paid attention. No one has perceived any god except you. You help those who wait for you.

5 You greeted the one who gladly does right and remembers your ways. You were angry because we sinned. We continued to sin for a long time. Can we still be saved?

6 All of us have become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like permanently stained rags. All of us wither like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.

7 No one calls on your name or tries to hold on to you. You have hidden your face from us. You allowed us be ruined by our sins.

8 But now, Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands.

9 Do not be too angry, Jehovah. Do not remember our sin forever. Now look, we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a desert. Jerusalem is a wasteland.

11 Our holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned to the ground. All that we valued has been ruined.

12 Despite these things, Jehovah, will you restrain yourself? Will you be silent and make us suffer beyond measure?