Isaiah

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

1If only you would tear the sky open and come down! Then the mountains would shake in front of you.

2As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

2Come like fire that sets dry branches blazing, like fire that makes water boil. Then your enemies would learn your name, and the nations would shake in front of you.

3When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

3Long ago you did awesome things we never expected. You came down, and the mountains shook in front of you.

4For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

4From the beginning of the world, no one has ever heard or seen any God but you. You act for the people who wait for you.

5Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

5You gladly meet the people who do what is right and keep your ways in mind. But you were angry, because we sinned. How can we be saved if we keep on sinning?

NoteThe end of this verse is hard to read in Hebrew. The KJV wording "in those is continuance" is unclear; most modern translations read it as a question about staying in sin, which is the sense given here.

6But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

6All of us have become dirty. Even our good deeds are like filthy rags. We dry up like a leaf, and our sins blow us away like wind.

7And 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, because of our iniquities.

7Nobody calls on your name. Nobody stirs himself to take hold of you. You have hidden your face from us and let our sins wear us away.

8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

8But even now, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay and you are the potter. All of us were made by your hands.

9Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

9Do not stay angry, LORD. Do not remember our sin forever. Please look at us. We are all your people.

10Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

10Your holy cities have turned into empty land. Zion is empty ground, and Jerusalem is a ruin.

11Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

11Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned down. Everything we loved lies in ruins.

NoteThe KJV says "our holy and our beautiful house." "House" here means the temple in Jerusalem, the building where people worshiped God.

12Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

12After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you stay silent and let us suffer so much?