1 I f only You would tear open the heavens and come down! The mountains would shake before You,

2 a s when fire burns the wood and causes the water to boil. Come and make Your name known to those who are against you, that the nations may shake in fear before You!

3 W hen You did powerful things which we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains shook before You.

4 F rom long ago no ear has heard and no eye has seen any God besides You, Who works for those who wait for Him.

5 Y ou meet him who finds joy in doing what is right and good, who remembers You in Your ways. See, You were angry because we sinned. We have been sinning for a long time, and will we be saved?

6 A ll of us have become like one who is unclean. All our right and good works are like dirty pieces of cloth. And all of us dry up like a leaf. Our sins take us away like the wind.

7 T here is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us, and have given us over to the power of our sins.

8 B ut now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are our pot maker. All of us are the work of Your hand.

9 D o not be so angry, O Lord. Do not remember our sin forever. Look now, all of us are Your people.

10 Y our holy cities have become a waste place. Zion has become a waste place. Jerusalem lies destroyed.

11 O ur holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, has been burned by fire. And all our things of great worth have been destroyed.

12 W ill You do nothing after seeing these things, O Lord? Will You keep quiet and make us suffer even more?