Wouldst thou but part heaven asunder, and come down, the hills shrinking from thy presence,

melting away as if burnt by fire; the waters, too, boiling with that fire! So should the fame of thee go abroad among thy enemies; a world should tremble at thy presence!

Of thy marvellous doing, we ourselves cannot bear the sight; so it was when thou camest down, and the hills shrank away before thee, long ago.✻

Such things as were never known from the beginning, as ear never heard, eye never saw, save at thy command, thou, O God, hast made ready for all that await thy aid.

Graciously thou goest out to meet them, loyal lovers of thine that keep thee ever in mind, ever follow thy bidding.✻

And now thou art angry with us; we have sinned; so it has been a long while, and shall we find deliverance?

We are men defiled; what are all our claims on thy mercy? No better than the clout a woman casts away; we are like fallen leaves, every one of us, by the wind of our own transgressions whirled along.

There is none left that calls on thy name, that bestirs himself to lay hold of thee. Thou hidest thy face from us, broken men caught in the grip of their wrong-doing.

Yet, Lord, thou art our father; we are but clay, and thou the craftsman who has fashioned us;

wilt thou crush us, Lord, with thy anger, wilt thou keep our sins ever in mind? We are thy people, all of us.

A desert, the city thy chosen servant knew, a desert, the Sion we love; Jerusalem lies forlorn.

Given over to the flames, the house that was our sanctuary and our pride, the house in which our fathers praised thee; all that we loved lies in ruins;

Lord, wilt thou have patience still? Wilt thou keep silent still, and overwhelm us with calamity?