The Book of Baruch.
ND
THESE are the
words of the book, which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of
Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Asadias, the son of
Chelcias, wrote in Babylon,
2 In the fifth year, and in the
seventh day of the month, what time as the Chaldeans took Jerusalem,
and burnt it with fire.
3 And Baruch did read the words of this
book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joachim king of Juda, and
in the ears of all the people that came to hear the book,
4 And in
the hearing of the nobles, and of the king's sons, and in the hearing
of the elders, and of all the people, from the lowest unto the
highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon by the river Sud.
5
Whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord.
6 They
made also a collection of money according to every man's power:
7
And they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest, the son
of Chelcias, son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people
which were found with him at Jerusalem,
8 At the same time when he
received the vessels of the house of the Lord, that were carried out
of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of
the month Sivan, namely, silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of
Josias king of Jada had made,
9 After that Nabuchodonosor king of
Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and the
captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from
Jerusalem, and brought them unto Babylon.
10 And they said,
Behold, we have sent you money to buy you burnt offerings, and sin
offerings, and incense, and prepare ye manna, and offer upon the
altar of the Lord our God;
11 And pray for the life of
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his
son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven:
12
And the Lord will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we
shall live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and
under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and we shall serve them many
days, and find favour in their sight.
13 Pray for us also unto the
Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God; and unto
this day the fury of the Lord and his wrath is not turned from us.
14
And ye shall read this book which we have sent unto you, to make
confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and solemn
days.
15 And ye shall say, To the Lord our God belongeth
righteousness, but unto us the confusion of faces, as it is come to
pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem,
16 And to our kings, and to our princes, and to our
priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers:
17 For we have
sinned before the Lord,
18 And disobeyed him, and have not
hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the
commandments that he gave us openly:
19 Since the day that the
Lord brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, unto this
present day, we have been disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we
have been negligent in not hearing his voice.
20 Wherefore the
evils cleaved unto us, and the curse, which the Lord appointed by
Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the
land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milk and honey,
like as it is to see this day.
21 Nevertheless we have not
hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, according unto all the
words of the prophets, whom he sent unto us:
22 But every man
followed the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange
gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.
HEREFORE
the Lord hath made good his word, which he pronounced against us, and
against our judges that judged Israel, and against our kings, and
against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Juda,
2 To
bring upon us great plagues, such as never happened under the whole
heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that
were written in the law of Moses;
3 That a man should eat the
flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter.
4
Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all the
kingdoms that are round about us, to be as a reproach and desolation
among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered
them.
5 Thus we were cast down, and not exalted, because we have
sinned against the Lord our God, and have not been obedient unto his
voice.
6 To the Lord our God appertaineth righteousness: but unto
us and to our fathers open shame, as appeareth this day.
7 For all
these plagues are come upon us, which the Lord hath pronounced
against us
8 Yet have we not prayed before the Lord, that we might
turn every one from the imaginations of his wicked heart.
9
Wherefore the Lord watched over us for evil, and the Lord hath
brought it upon us: for the Lord is righteous in all his works which
he hath commanded us.
10 Yet we have not hearkened unto his voice,
to walk in the commandments of the Lord, that he hath set before
us.
11 And now, O Lord God of Israel, that hast brought thy people
out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and high arm, and with
signs, and with wonders, and with great power, and hast gotten
thyself a name, as appeareth this day:
12 O Lord our God, we have
sinned, we have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all
thine ordinances.
13 Let thy wrath turn from us: for we are but a
few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us.
14 Hear
our prayers, O Lord, and our petitions, and deliver us for thine own
sake, and give us favour in the sight of them which have led us
away:
15 That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our
God, because Israel and his posterity is called by thy name.
16 O
Lord, look down from thine holy house, and consider us: bow down
thine ear, O Lord, to hear us.
17 Open thine eyes, and behold; for
the dead that are in the graves, whose souls are taken from their
bodies, will give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousness:
18
But the soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and feeble,
and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will give thee praise
and righteousness, O Lord.
19 Therefore we do not make our humble
supplication before thee, O Lord our God, for the righteousness of
our fathers, and of our kings.
20 For thou hast sent out thy wrath
and indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by thy servants the
prophets, saying,
21 Thus saith the Lord, Bow down your shoulders
to serve the king of Babylon: so shall ye remain in the land that I
gave unto your fathers.
22 But if ye will not hear the voice of
the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon,
23 I will cause to cease
out of the cites of Judah, and from without Jerusalem, the voice of
mirth, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the
voice of the bride: and the whole land shall be desolate of
inhabitants.
24 But we would not hearken unto thy voice, to serve
the king of Babylon: therefore hast thou made good the words that
thou spakest by thy servants the prophets, namely, that the bones of
our kings, and the bones of our fathers, should be taken out of their
place.
25 And, lo, they are cast out to the heat of the day, and
to the frost of the night, and they died in great miseries by famine,
by sword, and by pestilence.
26 And the house which is called by
thy name hast thou laid waste, as it is to be seen this day, for the
wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Juda.
27 O Lord
our God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy goodness, and
according to all that great mercy of thine,
28 As thou spakest by
thy servant Moses in the day when thou didst command him to write the
law before the children of Israel, saying,
29 If ye will not hear
my voice, surely this very great multitude shall be turned into a
small number among the nations, where I will scatter them.
30 For
I knew that they would not hear me, because it is a stiffnecked
people: but in the land of their captivities they shall remember
themselves.
31 And shall know that I am the Lord their God: for I
will give them an heart, and ears to hear:
32 And they shall
praise me in the land of their captivity, and think upon my name,
33
And return from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for
they shall remember the way of their fathers, which sinned before the
Lord.
34 And I will bring them again into the land which I
promised with an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and they shall be lords of it: and I will increase them, and they
shall not be diminished.
35 And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them to be their God, and they shall be my people: and
I will no more drive my people of Israel out of the land that I have
given them.
LORD
Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish the troubled spirit,
crieth unto thee.
2 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; ar thou art
merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before
thee.
3 For thou endurest for ever, and we perish utterly.
4 O
Lord Almighty, thou God of Israel, hear now the prayers of the dead
Israelites, and of their children, which have sinned before thee, and
not hearkened unto the voice of thee their God: for the which cause
these plagues cleave unto us.
5 Remember not the iniquities of our
forefathers: but think upon thy power and thy name now at this
time.
6 For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O Lord, will we
praise.
7 And for this cause thou hast put thy fear in our hearts,
to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in
our captivity: for we have called to mind all the iniquity of our
forefathers, that sinned before thee.
8 Behold, we are yet this
day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach
and a curse, and to be subject to payments, according to all the
iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.
9
Hear, Israel, the commandments of life: give ear to understand
wisdom.
10 How happeneth it Israel, that thou art in thine
enemies' land, that thou art waxen old in a strange country, that
thou art defiled with the dead,
11 That thou art counted with them
that go down into the grave?
12 Thou hast forsaken the fountain of
wisdom.
13 For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou
shouldest have dwelled in peace for ever.
14 Learn where is
wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding; that thou mayest
know also where is length of days, and life, where is the light of
the eyes, and peace.
15 Who hath found out her place? or who hath
come into her treasures ?
16 Where are the princes of the heathen
become, and such as ruled the beasts upon the earth;
17 They that
had their pastime with the fowls of the air, and they that hoarded up
silver and gold, wherein men trust, and made no end of their
getting?
18 For they that wrought in silver, and were so careful,
and whose works are unsearchable,
19 They are vanished and gone
down to the grave, and others are come up in their steads.
20
Young men have seen light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of
knowledge have they not known,
21 Nor understood the paths
thereof, nor laid hold of it: their children were far off from that
way.
22 It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been
seen in Theman.
23 The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the
merchants of Meran and of Theman, the authors of fables, and
searchers out of understanding; none of these have known the way of
wisdom, or remember her paths.
24 O Israel, how great is the house
of God! and how large is the place of his possession!
25 Great,
and hath none end; high, and unmeasurable.
26 There were the
giants famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and
so expert in war.
27 Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave
he the way of knowledge unto them:
28 But they were destroyed,
because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own
foolishness.
29 Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and
brought her down from the clouds?
30 Who hath gone over the sea,
and found her, and will bring her for pure gold?
31 No man knoweth
her way, nor thinketh of her path.
32 But he that knoweth all
things knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he
that prepared the earth for evermore hath filled it with fourfooted
beasts:
33 He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth, calleth it
again, and it obeyeth him with fear.
34 The stars shined in their
watches, and rejoiced: when he calleth them, they say, Here we be;
and so with cheerfulness they shewed light unto him that made
them.
35 This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted
of in comparison of him
36 He hath found out all the way of
knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel
his beloved.
37 Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and
conversed with men.
HIS
is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endureth for
ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but such as leave it
shall die.
2 Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the
presence of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated.
3
Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are profitable
unto thee to a strange nation.
4 O Israel, happy are we: for
things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us.
5 Be of
good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel.
6 Ye were sold to
the nations, not for your
destruction: but because ye moved God to wrath, ye were delivered
unto the enemies.
7 For ye provoked him that made you by
sacrificing unto devils, and not to God.
8 Ye have forgotten the
everlasting God, that brought you up; and ye have grieved Jerusalem,
that nursed you.
9 For when she saw the wrath of God coming upon
you, she said, Hearken, O ye that dwell about Sion: God hath brought
upon me great mourning;
10 For I saw the captivity of my sons and
daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them.
11 With joy
did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping and mourning.
12
Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and forsaken of many, who for
the sins of my children am left desolate; because they departed from
the law of God.
13 They knew not his statutes, nor walked in the
ways of his commandments, nor trod in the paths of discipline in his
righteousness.
14 Let them that dwell about Sion come, and
remember ye the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the
Everlasting hath brought upon them.
15 For he hath brought a
nation upon them from far, a shameless nation, and of a strange
language, who neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child.
16
These have carried away the dear beloved children of the widow, and
left her that was alone desolate without daughters.
17 But what
can I help you?
18 For he that brought these plagues upon you will
deliver you from the hands of your enemies.
19 Go your way, O my
children, go your way: for I am left desolate.
20 I have put off
the clothing of peace, and put upon me the sackcloth of my prayer: I
will cry unto the Everlasting in my days.
21 Be of good cheer, O
my children, cry unto the Lord, and he will deliver you from the
power and hand of the enemies.
22 For my hope is in the
Everlasting, that he will save you; and joy is come unto me from the
Holy One, because of the mercy which shall soon come unto you from
the Everlasting our Saviour.
23 For I sent you out with mourning
and weeping: but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness
for ever.
24 Like as now the neighbours of Sion have seen your
captivity: so shall they see shortly your salvation from our God
which shall come upon you with great glory, and brightness of the
Everlasting.
25 My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is
come upon you from God: for thine enemy hath persecuted thee; but
shortly thou shalt see his destruction, and shalt tread upon his
neck.
26 My delicate ones have gone rough ways, and were taken
away as a flock caught of the enemies.
27 Be of good comfort, O my
children, and cry unto God: for ye shall be remembered of him that
brought these things upon you.
28 For as it was your mind to go
astray from God: so, being returned, seek him ten times more.
29
For he that hath brought these plagues upon you shall bring you
everlasting joy with your salvation.
30 Take a good heart, O
Jerusalem: for he that gave thee that name will comfort thee.
31
Miserable are they that afflicted thee, and rejoiced at thy fall.
32
Miserable are the cities which thy children served: miserable is she
that received thy sons.
33 For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and
was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own
desolation.
34 For I will take away the rejoicing of her great
multitude, and her pride shall be turned into mourning.
35 For
fire shall come upon her from the Everlasting, long to endure; and
she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time.
36 O Jerusalem,
look about thee toward the east, and behold the joy that cometh unto
thee from God.
37 Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they
come gathered together from the east to the west by the word of the
Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.
UT
off, O Jerusalem, the garment of mourning and affliction, and put on
the comeliness of the glory that cometh from God for ever.
2 Cast
about thee a double garment of the righteousness which cometh from
God; and set a diadem on thine head of the glory of the
Everlasting.
3 For God will shew thy brightness unto every country
under heaven.
4 For thy name shall be called of God for ever The
peace of righteousness, and The glory of God's worship.
5 Arise, O
Jerusalem, and stand on high, and look about toward the east, and
behold thy children gathered from the west unto the east by the word
of the Holy One, rejoicing in the remembrance of God.
6 For they
departed from thee on foot, and were led away of their enemies: but
God bringeth them unto thee exalted with glory, as children of the
kingdom.
7 For God hath appointed that every high hill, and banks
of long continuance, should be cast down, and valleys filled up, to
make even the ground, that Israel may go safely in the glory of
God,
8 Moreover even the woods and every sweetsmelling tree shall
overshadow Israel by the commandment of God.
9 For God shall lead
Israel with joy in the light of his glory with the mercy and
righteousness that cometh from him.