1Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— (Jud 5:5; 2Sa 22:10; Ps 18:9; Ps 144:5; Mic 1:4)2[1] as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! (Jos 2:9)3When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. (Ex 14:13; Ex 15:11)4From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. (Ps 31:19; 1Co 2:9)5You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?[2]6We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Ps 90:5; Isa 59:12)7There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in[3] the hand of our iniquities. (Isa 43:22; Ho 7:7)8But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isa 29:23; Isa 45:9; Isa 45:11; Isa 63:16; Ro 9:20)9Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people. (Ps 74:1; Ps 79:8; Isa 57:16)10Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. (Ne 1:3; Ne 2:3)11Our holy and beautiful[4] house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins. (2Ki 25:9; 2Ch 36:19; Ps 74:7; Hag 1:9; Hag 2:3)12Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly? (Isa 42:14; Zec 1:12)