The Darby Translation DBY
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, -- that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
1
If only you would split open the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence.
2 -- as fire kindleth brushwood, as the fire causeth water to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations might tremble at thy presence!
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.
3 When thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, thou camest down, and the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
3
When you did awe-inspiring things that we didn't expect, you came down and the mountains quaked in your presence.
4 Never have [men] heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor hath eye seen a God beside thee, who acteth for him that waiteth for him.
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.
5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth to do righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: (behold, thou wast wroth, and we have sinned:) in those is perpetuity, and we shall be saved.
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?
6 And we are all become as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away;
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.
7 and there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hidden thy face from us, and hast caused us to melt away through our iniquities.
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.
8 And now, Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
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But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands.
9 Be not wroth very sore, O Jehovah, neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
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Don't be too angry, LORD. Don't remember our sin forever. Now look, we are all your people.
10 Thy holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
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Your holy cities have become a desert. Zion has become a desert. Jerusalem is a wasteland.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire, and all our precious things are laid waste.
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Our holy and beautiful temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned to the ground. All that we valued has been ruined.
12 Wilt thou restrain thyself in presence of these things, Jehovah? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
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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