1O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence—

264.2 Ch 64.1 in Heb as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

to make your name known to your adversaries,

so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

3When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4From ages past no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.

5You meet those who gladly do right,

those who remember you in your ways.

But you were angry, and we sinned;

because you hid yourself we transgressed.64.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain

6We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7There is no one who calls on your name,

or attempts to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have delivered64.7 Gk Syr Old Latin Tg: Heb melted us into the hand of our iniquity.

8Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

9Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,

and do not remember iniquity for ever.

Now consider, we are all your people.

10Your holy cities have become a wilderness,

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11Our holy and beautiful house,

where our ancestors praised you,

has been burned by fire,

and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

12After all this, will you restrain yourself, O LORD?

Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?