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Prayer for Mercy and Help

¹ Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and ^(C1)come down,
That the mountains might ^(C2)quake at Your presence—

² As sure as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the ^(C1)nations may tremble at Your presence!

³ When You did ^(C1)awesome and amazing things which we did not expect,
You came down at Sinai; the mountains quaked at Your presence.

⁴ For from days of old no ^(C1)one has heard, nor has ear perceived,
Nor has the eye ^(F1)seen a God besides You,
Who works and acts in behalf of the one who gladly ^(C2)waits for Him.

⁵ You ^(C1)meet him who rejoices in doing ^(C2)that which is morally right,
Who ^(C3)remembers You in Your ways.
Indeed, ^(C4)You were angry, for we sinned;
We have long continued in our sins prolonging Your anger.
And shall we be saved under such circumstances?

⁶ For we all have become like one who is ceremonially ^(C1)unclean like a leper,
And all our deeds of ^(C2)righteousness are like filthy rags;
We all ^(C3)wither and decay like a leaf,
And our ^(C4)wickedness our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing, like the wind, takes us away carrying us far from God's favor, toward destruction. ^(VR1)

⁷ There is ^(C1)no one who calls on Your name,
Who awakens and causes himself to take hold of You;
For You have ^(C2)hidden Your face from us
And have handed us over to the consuming and destructive power of our wickedness our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing. ^(VR1)

⁸ Yet, O LORD, ^(C1)You are our Father;
We are the ^(C2)clay, and You our Potter,
And we all are the ^(C3)work of Your hand.

⁹ Do not be ^(C1)angry beyond measure, O LORD,
^(C2)Do not remember our wickedness our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing forever.
Now look, consider, for we are all ^(C3)Your people.

^10 (F1)Your ^(C1)holy cities have become a ^(C2)wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹ Our holy and beautiful ^(C1)house the temple built by Solomon,
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been burned by fire;
And ^(C2)all our precious objects are in ruins.

¹² Considering these tragedies, will You ^(C1)restrain Yourself, O LORD and not help us?
Will You keep silent and humiliate and oppress us beyond measure?