1 Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down,
2 At thy presence, had mountains, quaked: As fire kindleth brushwood, As fire causeth, water, to boil, So if thou wouldst make known thy Name to thine adversaries, At thy presence, nations, would tremble.
3 When thou didst fearful things we could not expect, Thou earnest down at thy presence, mountains, quaked.
4 Although from age-past times It was never heard, It was not perceived by the ear, - Neither did, the eye, ever see - That, a god besides thee, could work for the man who waited for him,
5 Yet didst thou meet Him who was rejoicing and working righteousness, Even them who in thy ways, remembered thee, - Lo! thou, hast been vexed, And truly we had sinned, Among them, was the prospect of an age to come , That we might be saved.
6 But we have become as one unclean all of us, And, as a garment polluted, were all our righteous doings, - And so we faded like a leaf all of us, And, our iniquity, as a wind, carried us away;
7 And there was none To call upon thy Name, To rouse himself to lay firm hold on thee, - For thou hadst hidden thy face from us, And hadst made us despond, by means of our iniquity.
8 But, now, O Yahweh, our father, thou art, - We are the clay, and, thou, art our potter, Yea the work of thy hand, are we all:
9 Do not be indignant, O Yahweh so very greatly, Neither perpetually, do thou recall iniquity, - Lo! look around, we pray thee -- thy people, are, we all.
10 Thy holy cities, have become a wilderness, - Zion, a wilderness, hath become, Jerusalem, a desolation!
11 Our holy and our beautiful house Where our fathers praised thee, Hath become a conflagration, - And, all our delightful places, are in ruins!
12 In view of these things, wilt thou restrain thyself. O Yahweh? Wilt thou hold thy peace and humble us so very greatly?