3 From of old ✡ 1 Cor. 2. 9. we have not heard, neither have our eyes seen a God beside thee, and thy works which thou wilt perform to them that wait for mercy. 4 For these blessings shall happen to them that work righteousness, and they shall remember thy ways: behold, thou wast angry and we have sinned; therefore we have erred, 5 and we are all become as unclean, and all our righteousness as a filthy rag: and we have * Heb. and Lit. flowed out.fallen as leaves because of our iniquities; thus the wind shall carry us away. 6 And there is none that calls upon thy name, or that remembers to take hold on thee: for thou hast turned thy face away from us, and hast delivered us up because of our sins.

7 And now, O Lord, thou art our Father, and we are clay, all of us the work of thine hands. 8 Be not very wroth with us, and remember not our sins † The Gr. ἐν καιρῷ is a Hebraism.for ever; but now look on us, for we are all thy people. 9 The city of thy holiness has become desolate, Sion has become as a wilderness, Jerusalem a curse. 10 The house, our sanctuary, and the glory which our fathers blessed, has been burnt with fire: and all our glorious things have gone to ruin. 11 And for all these things thou, O Lord, hast withholden thyself, and been silent, and hast brought us very low.