| International Standard Version | NET 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 apart the sky and come down! The mountains would tremble before you! |
| 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 when fire ignites dry wood, or fire makes water boil, let your adversaries know who you are, and may the nations shake at your presence! |
| 3When you did awesome deeds that we expected, you came down, and the mountains shuddered before you. | 3When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. |
| 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. | 4Since ancient times no one has heard or perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who intervenes for those who wait 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 assist those who delight in doing what is right, who observe your commandments. Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? |
| 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. | 6We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins 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 invokes your name, or makes an effort to take hold of you. For you have rejected us and handed us over to our own sins. |
| 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 are all the product of your labor. |
| 9Don't be angry beyond measure, LORD, and don't remember our iniquity for a season. Please look now, we are all your people. | 9LORD, do not be too angry! Do not hold our sins against us continually! Take a good look at your people, at all of us! |
| 10Your holy cities have become a desert; Zion has become like a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. | 10Your chosen cities have become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin. |
| 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 temple, our pride and joy, the place where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire; all our prized possessions have been destroyed. |
| 12 LORD, after all this, can you hold yourself back? Can you keep silent and punish us so severely? | 12In light of all this, how can you still hold back, LORD? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us? |
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