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¹⁶For Thou art our Father;

For Abraham knoweth us not,

And Israel doth not acknowledge us;

Thou, O Lord, art our Father,

Our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name.

¹⁷O Lord, why dost Thou make us to err from Thy ways,

And hardenest our heart from Thy fear?

Return for Thy servants'sake,

The tribes of Thine inheritance.

¹⁸Thy holy people they have well nigh driven out,

Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary.

¹⁹We are become as they over whom Thou never borest rule,

As they that were not called by Thy name.

 

Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down,

That the mountains might quake at Thy presence,

64As when fire kindleth the brush-wood,

And the fire causeth the waters to boil;

To make Thy name known to Thine adversaries,

That the nations might tremble at Thy presence,

²When Thou didst tremendous things

Which we looked not for—

Oh that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence!—

³And whereof from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,

Neither hath the eye seen a God beside Thee,

Who worketh for him that waiteth for Him.

 

⁴Thou didst take away him that joyfully worked righteousness,

Those that remembered Thee in Thy ways—

Behold, Thou wast wroth, and we sinned—

Upon them have we stayed of old, that we might be saved.

⁵And we are all become as one that is unclean,

And all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment;

And we all do fade as a leaf,

And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁶And there is none that calleth upon Thy name,

That stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee;

For Thou hast hid Thy face from us,

And hast consumed us by means of our iniquities.

 

⁷But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father;

We are the clay, and Thou our potter,

And we all are the work of Thy hand.

⁸Be not wroth very sore, O Lord,

Neither remember iniquity for ever;

Behold, look, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people.

⁹Thy holy cities are become a wilderness,

Zion is become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

¹⁰Our holy and our beautiful house,

Where our fathers praised Thee,

Is burned with fire;

And all our pleasant things are laid waste.

¹¹Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord?

Wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

 

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