1As fire is kindled on brushwood, as water is made to bubble up by fire—to make thy name known to thy adversaries, that at thy presence nations might tremble! 2As when thou didst fearful deeds which we had not looked for, thou camest down, while at thy presence mountains melted away; 3Yea! what from the beginning of the world men had not heard, not perceived by their hearing; no eye also had seen a god beside thee, who could do the like for the one that waiteth for him. 4Thou acceptest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou wast wroth, for we had sinned on them continually; and can we thus be saved? 5And we are become like an unclean man all of us, and like a soiled garment, all our righteousness; and we wither like a leaf all of us; and our iniquities, like the wind, will bear us away. 6And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth himself up to lay hold of thee; for thou hast hidden thy face from us, and hast let us melt away, through the force of our iniquities. 7But now, O Lord, our father art thou; we are the clay, and thou our fashioner; and the work of thy hand are we all. 8Be not wroth, O Lord, so very greatly, and do not for ever remember our iniquity: behold, look, we beseech thee, thy people are we all. 9Thy holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem, a desolate place. 10Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire; and all our costly things are become ruins. 11Wilt thou for these things refrain thyself, O Lord? wilt thou be silent, and afflict us so very greatly? 12