| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1 If only you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— | 1If only You would tear the heavens open and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence-- |
| 2 just as fire sets twigs ablaze and the fire causes water to boil— to make known your name to your enemies, yes, to your enemies before you, so that the nations might quake at your presence! | 2as fire kindles the brushwood, and fire causes water to boil-- to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that nations will tremble at Your presence! |
| 3When you did awesome deeds that we expected, you came down, and the mountains shuddered before you. | 3When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains quaked at Your presence. |
| 4Since ancient times no one has heard, and no ear has perceived, and no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. | 4From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God except You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him. |
| 5You come to the aid of those who gladly do what's right, To those who remember you in your ways. See, you were angry, and we sinned against them for a long time, but we will be saved. | 5You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember You in Your ways. But we have sinned, and You were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? |
| 6All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our iniquities sweep us away. | 6All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. |
| 7There is no one who calls on your name or rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have given us into the control of our iniquity. | 7No one calls on Your name, striving to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity. |
| 8But as for you, O LORD, you are our Father; and we are clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands. | 8Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands. |
| 9Don't be angry beyond measure, LORD, and don't remember our iniquity for a season. Please look now, we are all your people. | 9 LORD, do not be terribly angry or remember our iniquity forever. Please look--all of us are Your people! |
| 10Your holy cities have become a desert; Zion has become like a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. | 10Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. |
| 11Our holy Temple and our splendor, where our ancestors praised you, have become a conflagration of fire, and all our dearest places have become ruins. | 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. |
| 12 LORD, after all this, can you hold yourself back? Can you keep silent and punish us so severely? | 12 LORD, after all this, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict severely?" |
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