GOD'S WORD Translation GW
New International Version NIV
1 If only you would split open the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence.
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Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 Be like the fire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil. Come down to make your name known to your enemies. The nations will tremble in your presence.
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As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 When you did awe-inspiring things that we didn't expect, you came down and the mountains quaked in your presence.
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For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 No one has ever heard, no one has paid attention, and no one has seen any god except you. You help those who wait for you.
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Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You greeted the one who gladly does right and remembers your ways. You showed your anger, because we've sinned. We've continued to sin for a long time. Can we still be saved?
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You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
6 We've all become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like permanently stained rags. All of us shrivel like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.
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All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name or tries to hold on to you. You have hidden your face from us. You have let us be ruined by our sins.
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No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.
8 But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands.
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Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
9 Don't be too angry, LORD. Don't remember our sin forever. Now look, we are all your people.
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Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a desert. Zion has become a desert. Jerusalem is a wasteland.
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Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned to the ground. All that we valued has been ruined.
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Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 Despite these things, LORD, will you hold back? Will you be silent and make us suffer more than we can bear?
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After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.