64  If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
    Mountains would quake before you
²     like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil.
If you would make your name known to your enemies,
    the nations would tremble in your presence.

³ When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations;
    when you came down, mountains quaked before you.
⁴ From ancient times,
    no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
    no eye has seen any god but you
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him!
⁵ You look after those who gladly do right;
    they will praise you for your ways.
But you were angry when we sinned;
    you hid yourself when we did wrong.
⁶ We have all become like the unclean;
    all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag.
All of us wither like a leaf;
    our sins, like the wind, carry us away.
⁷ No one calls on your name;
    no one bothers to hold on to you,
    for you have hidden yourself from us,
    and have handed us over to our sin.

⁸ But now, Lord, you are our father.
    We are the clay, and you are our potter.
    All of us are the work of your hand.
⁹ Don’t rage so fiercely, Lord;
    don’t hold our sins against us forever,
    but gaze now on your people, all of us: