English Standard Version ESV
New Living Translation NLT
1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—
1
Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!
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 fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
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 came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked!
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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For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for 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 welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us 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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We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
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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Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned 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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And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by 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 be so angry with us, LORD . Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that 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 holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.
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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The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed.
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, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.