New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
1
O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you,
2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
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;
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
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.
4 From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.
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.
5 You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
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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.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
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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.
7 There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
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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.
8 Yet, 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, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
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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.
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
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Your holy towns have become a waste, Zion has become a waste, Jerusalem is a mass of broken walls.
11 Our holy and beautiful house, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
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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.
12 After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?
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In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.