English Standard Version ESV
New International Version NIV
1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might 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 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!
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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 awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at 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 From 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.
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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 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?
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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 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.
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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 There 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 the hand of our iniquities.
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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 clay, and you are our potter; 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 so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please 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 wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
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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 praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
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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 Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
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After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.