The Bible in Basic English BBE
New International Version NIV
1 O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you,
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Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you;
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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 While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past.
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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 The ear has not had news of, or the eye seen, ... any God but you, working for the man who is waiting for him.
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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 Will you not have mercy on him who takes pleasure in doing righteousness, even on those who keep in mind your ways? Truly you were angry, and we went on doing evil, and sinning against you in the past.
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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 For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.
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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 And there is no one who makes prayer to your name, or who is moved to keep true to you: for your face is veiled from us, and you have given us into the power of 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, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand.
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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 Be not very angry, O Lord, and do not keep our sins in mind for ever: give ear to our prayer, for 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 towns have become a waste, Zion has become a waste, Jerusalem is a mass of broken walls.
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Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction.
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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 In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?
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After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
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.