Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
1If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence, | 1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! |
2as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence! | 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! |
3When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence. | 3When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! |
4From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. | 4For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! |
5You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? | 5You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? |
6Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. | 6We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. |
7No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. | 7Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. |
8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. | 8And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. |
9Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people! | 9Don’t be so angry with us, LORD. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. |
10Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation. | 10Your holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin. |
11Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. | 11The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. |
12After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure? | 12After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us? |
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