O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, (and) hardened our heart from thy fear? - i:e., suffered us to err and to be hardened in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but confess that, through their own fault, God gave them over to a reprobate mind (Isaiah 6:9-10; Psalms 119:10; Romans 1:28).
Return - Numbers 10:36; Psalms 90:13.)