English Standard Version ESV
Common English Bible CEB
1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—
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If only you would tear open the heavens and come down! Mountains would quake 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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like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil. If you would make your name known to your enemies, the nations would tremble in your presence.
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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When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations; when you came down, mountains quaked 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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From ancient times, no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any god but 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 look after those who gladly do right; they will praise you for your ways. But you were angry when we sinned; you hid yourself when we did wrong.
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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We have all become like the unclean; all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag. All of us wither like a leaf; our sins, like the wind, carry 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; no one bothers to hold on to you, for you have hidden yourself from us, and have handed us over to our sin.
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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But now, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. All of us are 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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Don't rage so fiercely, LORD; don't hold our sins against us forever, but gaze now on your people, all of us:
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
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Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a wasteland.
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, glorious house, where our ancestors praised you, has gone up in flames; all that we treasured has become a ruin.
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, will you hold back, LORD? Will you keep silent and torment us so terribly?
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible