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Baruch
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Translations |
Bar.1
[1] These are the words of the book which Baruch the son of
Neraiah, son of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah,
wrote in Babylon,
[2] in the fifth year, on the seventh day of the
month, at the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burned it with fire.
[3] And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jeconiah
the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and in the hearing of all the people who
came to hear the book,
[4] and in the hearing of the mighty men and
the princes, and in the hearing of the elders, and in the hearing of all the
people, small and great, all who dwelt in Babylon by the river Sud.
[5] Then they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord;
[6]
and they collected money, each giving what he could;
[7] and they
sent it to Jerusalem to Jehoiakim the high priest, the son of Hilkiah, son of
Shallum, and to the priests, and to all the people who were present with him in
Jerusalem.
[8] At the same time, on the tenth day of Sivan, Baruch
took the vessels of the house of the Lord, which had been carried away from the
temple, to return them to the land of Judah -- the silver vessels which Zedekiah
the son of Josiah, king of Judah, had made,
[9] after Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon had carried away from Jerusalem Jeconiah and the princes and the
prisoners and the mighty men and the people of the land, and brought them to
Babylon.
[10] And they said: "Herewith we send you money; so buy with the money burnt
offerings and sin offerings and incense, and prepare a cereal offering, and
offer them upon the altar of the Lord our God;
[11] and pray for
the life of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar his
son, that their days on earth may be like the days of heaven.
[12]
And the Lord will give us strength, and he will give light to our eyes, and we
shall live under the protection of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and under the
protection of Belshazzar his son, and we shall serve them many days and find
favor in their sight.
[13] And pray for us to the Lord our God, for
we have sinned against the Lord our God, and to this day the anger of the Lord
and his wrath have not turned away from us.
[14] And you shall read
this book which we are sending you, to make your confession in the house of the
Lord on the days of the feasts and at appointed seasons.
[15] "And you shall say: `Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but confusion
of face, as at this day, to us, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem,
[16] and to our kings and our princes and our priests
and our prophets and our fathers,
[17] because we have sinned before
the Lord,
[18] and have disobeyed him, and have not heeded the voice
of the Lord our God, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which he set before us.
[19] From the day when the Lord brought our fathers out of the land
of Egypt until today, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have
been negligent, in not heeding his voice.
[20] So to this day there
have clung to us the calamities and the curse which the Lord declared through
Moses his servant at the time when he brought our fathers out of the land of
Egypt to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey.
[21] We did
not heed the voice of the Lord our God in all the words of the prophets whom he
sent to us, but we each followed the intent of his own wicked heart by serving
other gods and doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.
Bar.2
[1] "`So the Lord confirmed his word, which he spoke against us, and against our
judges who judged Israel, and against our kings and against our princes and
against the men of Israel and Judah.
[2] Under the whole heaven
there has not been done the like of what he has done in Jerusalem, in accordance
with what is written in the law of Moses,
[3] that we should eat, one
the flesh of his son and another the flesh of his daughter.
[4] And
he gave them into subjection to all the kingdoms around us, to be a reproach and
a desolation among all the surrounding peoples, where the Lord has scattered
them.
[5] They were brought low and not raised up, because we sinned
against the Lord our God, in not heeding his voice.
[6] "`Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but confusion of face to us and
our fathers, as at this day.
[7] All those calamities with which
the Lord threatened us have come upon us.
[8] Yet we have not
entreated the favor of the Lord by turning away, each of us, from the thoughts
of his wicked heart.
[9] And the Lord has kept the calamities ready,
and the Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his
works which he has commanded us to do.
[10] Yet we have not obeyed
his voice, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which he set before us.
[11] "`And now, O Lord God of Israel, who didst bring thy people out of the land
of Egypt with a mighty hand and with signs and wonders and with great power and
outstretched arm, and hast made thee a name, as at this day,
[12]
we have sinned, we have been ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God,
against all thy ordinances.
[13] Let thy anger turn away from us, for
we are left, few in number, among the nations where thou hast scattered us.
[14] Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our supplication, and for thy own
sake deliver us, and grant us favor in the sight of those who have carried us
into exile;
[15] that all the earth may know that thou art the Lord
our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by thy name.
[16]
O Lord, look down from thy holy habitation, and consider us. Incline thy ear, O
Lord, and hear;
[17] open thy eyes, O Lord, and see; for the dead who
are in Hades, whose spirit has been taken from their bodies, will not ascribe
glory or justice to the Lord,
[18] but the person that is greatly
distressed, that goes about bent over and feeble, and the eyes that are failing,
and the person that hungers, will ascribe to thee glory and righteousness, O
Lord.
[19] For it is not because of any righteous deeds of our
fathers or our kings that we bring before thee our prayer for mercy, O Lord our
God.
[20] For thou hast sent thy anger and thy wrath upon us, as thou
didst declare by thy servants the prophets, saying:
[21] "Thus says
the Lord: Bend your shoulders and serve the king of Babylon, and you will remain
in the land which I gave to your fathers.
[22] But if you will not
obey the voice of the Lord and will not serve the king of Babylon,
[23] I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the
region about Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice
of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the whole land will be a
desolation without inhabitants."
[24] "`But we did not obey thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon; and thou hast
confirmed thy words, which thou didst speak by thy servants the prophets, that
the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be brought out of
their graves;
[25] and behold, they have been cast out to the
heat of day and the frost of night. They perished in great misery, by famine and
sword and pestilence.
[26] And the house which is called by thy name
thou hast made as it is today, because of the wickedness of the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
[27] "`Yet thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, in all thy kindness and in all
thy great compassion,
[28] as thou didst speak by thy servant
Moses on the day when thou didst command him to write thy law in the presence of
the people of Israel, saying,
[29] "If you will not obey my voice,
this very great multitude will surely turn into a small number among the
nations, where I will scatter them.
[30] For I know that they will
not obey me, for they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their exile
they will come to themselves,
[31] and they will know that I am the
Lord their God. I will give them a heart that obeys and ears that hear;
[32] and they will praise me in the land of their exile, and will
remember my name,
[33] and will turn from their stubbornness and
their wicked deeds; for they will remember the ways of their fathers, who sinned
before the Lord.
[34] I will bring them again into the land which I
swore to give to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, and they
will rule over it; and I will increase them, and they will not be diminished.
[35] I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their God
and they shall be my people; and I will never again remove my people Israel from
the land which I have given them."
Bar.3
[1] "`O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the wearied spirit
cry out to thee.
[2] Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have
sinned before thee.
[3] For thou art enthroned for ever, and we are
perishing for ever.
[4] O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear now the
prayer of the dead of Israel and of the sons of those who sinned before thee,
who did not heed the voice of the Lord their God, so that calamities have clung
to us.
[5] Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but in this
crisis remember thy power and thy name.
[6] For thou art the Lord our
God, and thee, O Lord, will we praise.
[7] For thou hast put the fear
of thee in our hearts in order that we should call upon thy name; and we will
praise thee in our exile, for we have put away from our hearts all the iniquity
of our fathers who sinned before thee.
[8] Behold, we are today in
our exile where thou hast scattered us, to be reproached and cursed and punished
for all the iniquities of our fathers who forsook the Lord our God.'"
[9] Hear the commandments of life, O Israel; give ear, and learn
wisdom!
[10] Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the
land of your enemies, that you are growing old in a foreign country, that
you are defiled with the dead,
[11] that you are counted among those
in Hades?
[12] You have forsaken the fountain of
wisdom.
[13] If you had walked in the way of God, you would be
dwelling in peace for ever.
[14] Learn where there is wisdom, where
there is strength, where there is understanding, that you may at the same
time discern where there is length of days, and life, where there is light
for the eyes, and peace.
[15] Who has found her place? And who
has entered her storehouses?
[16] Where are the princes of the
nations, and those who rule over the beasts on earth;
[17] those
who have sport with the birds of the air, and who hoard up silver and
gold, in which men trust, and there is no end to their
getting;
[18] those who scheme to get silver, and are
anxious, whose labors are beyond measure?
[19] They have vanished
and gone down to Hades, and others have arisen in their
place.
[20] Young men have seen the light of day, and have
dwelt upon the earth; but they have not learned the way to knowledge, nor
understood her paths, nor laid hold of her.
[21] Their sons have
strayed far from her way.
[22] She has not been heard of in
Canaan, nor seen in Teman;
[23] the sons of Hagar, who seek for
understanding on the earth, the merchants of Merran and Teman, the
story-tellers and the seekers for understanding, have not learned the way to
wisdom, nor given thought to her paths.
[24] O Israel, how
great is the house of God! And how vast the territory that he
possesses!
[25] It is great and has no bounds; it is high and
immeasurable.
[26] The giants were born there, who were famous of
old, great in stature, expert in war.
[27] God did not choose
them, nor give them the way to knowledge;
[28] so they perished
because they had no wisdom, they perished through their
folly.
[29] Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and
brought her down from the clouds?
[30] Who has gone over the sea, and
found her, and will buy her for pure gold?
[31] No one knows the
way to her, or is concerned about the path to her.
[32] But he who
knows all things knows her, he found her by his understanding. He who
prepared the earth for all time
filled it with four-footed
creatures;
[33] he who sends forth the light, and it goes, called
it, and it obeyed him in fear;
[34] the stars shone in their watches,
and were glad; he called them, and they said, "Here we are!" They shone
with gladness for him who made them.
[35] This is our God; no other
can be compared to him!
[36] He found the whole way to
knowledge, and gave her to Jacob his servant and to Israel whom he
loved.
[37] Afterward she appeared upon earth and lived among
men.
Bar.4
[1] She is the book of the commandments of God, and the
law that endures for ever. All who hold her fast will live,
and those who
forsake her will die.
[2] Turn, O Jacob, and take her; walk toward
the shining of her light.
[3] Do not give your glory to another, or
your advantages to an alien people.
[4] Happy are we, O Israel, for
we know what is pleasing to God.
[5] Take courage, my people, O
memorial of Israel!
[6] It was not for destruction that you were
sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies
because you
angered God.
[7] For you provoked him who made you, by sacrificing
to demons and not to God.
[8] You forgot the everlasting God, who
brought you up, and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.
[9] For
she saw the wrath that came upon you from God, and she said: "Hearken, you
neighbors of Zion,
God has brought great sorrow upon me;
[10] for I
have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting
brought upon them.
[11] With joy I nurtured them, but I sent them
away with weeping and sorrow.
[12] Let no one rejoice over me, a
widow and bereaved of many; I was left desolate because of the sins of my
children,
because they turned away from the law of God.
[13] They
had no regard for his statutes; they did not walk in the ways of God's
commandments, nor tread the paths of discipline in his
righteousness.
[14] Let the neighbors of Zion come; remember the
capture of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon
them.
[15] For he brought against them a nation from afar, a
shameless nation, of a strange language, who had no respect for an old
man, and had no pity for a child.
[16] They led away the widow's
beloved sons, and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters.
[17]
"But I, how can I help you?
[18] For he who brought these calamities
upon you will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
[19] Go,
my children, go; for I have been left desolate.
[20] I have taken
off the robe of peace and put on the sackcloth of my supplication; I will
cry to the Everlasting all my days.
[21] "Take courage, my
children, cry to God, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the
enemy.
[22] For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save
you, and joy has come to me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which
soon will come to you from your everlasting Savior.
[23] For I sent
you out with sorrow and weeping, but God will give you back to me with
joy and gladness for ever.
[24] For as the neighbors of Zion have
now seen your capture, so they soon will see your salvation by God, which
will come to you with great glory and with the splendor of the
Everlasting.
[25] My children, endure with patience the wrath that
has come upon you from God. Your enemy has overtaken you,
but you will
soon see their destruction and will tread upon their necks.
[26] My
tender sons have traveled rough roads; they were taken away like a flock
carried off by the enemy.
[27] "Take courage, my children, and cry
to God, for you will be remembered by him who brought this upon
you.
[28] For just as you purposed to go astray from God, return
with tenfold zeal to seek him.
[29] For he who brought these
calamities upon you will bring you everlasting joy with your
salvation."
[30] Take courage, O Jerusalem, for he who named
you will comfort you.
[31] Wretched will be those who afflicted
you and rejoiced at your fall.
[32] Wretched will be the cities
which your children served as slaves; wretched will be the city which
received your sons.
[33] For just as she rejoiced at your fall and
was glad for your ruin, so she will be grieved at her own
desolation.
[34] And I will take away her pride in her great
population, and her insolence will be turned to grief.
[35] For
fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days, and for a long
time she will be inhabited by demons.
[36] Look toward the east, O
Jerusalem, and see the joy that is coming to you from God!
[37]
Behold, your sons are coming, whom you sent away; they are coming, gathered
from east and west, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of
God.
Bar.5
[1] Take off the garment of your sorrow and
affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from
God.
[2] Put on the robe of the righteousness from God; put on your
head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting.
[3] For God will show
your splendor everywhere under heaven.
[4] For your name will for ever
be called by God, "Peace of righteousness and glory of
godliness."
[5] Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height and
look toward the east, and see your children gathered from west and
east, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered
them.
[6] For they went forth from you on foot, led away by their
enemies; but God will bring them back to you,
carried in glory, as on a
royal throne.
[7] For God has ordered that every high mountain and
the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level
ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.
[8] The
woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God's
command.
[9] For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his
glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.