Study Desk

Would that thou hadst rent the heavens, hadst come down,

At thy presence, had mountains, quaked: As fire kindleth brushwood, As fire causeth, water, to boil, So if thou wouldst make known thy Name to thine adversaries, At thy presence, nations, would tremble.

When thou didst fearful things we could not expect, Thou earnest down at thy presence, mountains, quaked.

Although from age-past times It was never heard, It was not perceived by the ear, - Neither did, the eye, ever see - That, a god besides thee, could work for the man who waited for him,

Yet didst thou meet Him who was rejoicing and working righteousness, Even them who in thy ways, remembered thee, - Lo! thou, hast been vexed, And truly we had sinned, Among them, was the prospect of an age to come , That we might be saved.

But we have become as one unclean all of us, And, as a garment polluted, were all our righteous doings, - And so we faded like a leaf all of us, And, our iniquity, as a wind, carried us away;

And there was none To call upon thy Name, To rouse himself to lay firm hold on thee, - For thou hadst hidden thy face from us, And hadst made us despond, by means of our iniquity.

But, now, O Yahweh, our father, thou art, - We are the clay, and, thou, art our potter, Yea the work of thy hand, are we all:

Do not be indignant, O Yahweh so very greatly, Neither perpetually, do thou recall iniquity, - Lo! look around, we pray thee…thy people, are, we all.

Thy holy cities, have become a wilderness, - Zion, a wilderness, hath become, Jerusalem, a desolation!

Our holy and our beautiful house Where our fathers praised thee, Hath become a conflagration, - And, all our delightful places, are in ruins!

In view of these things, wilt thou restrain thyself. O Yahweh? Wilt thou hold thy peace and humble us so very greatly?