The Bible in Its Traditions

Baruch 2:11–3:8

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11  And now, O Lord God of Israel, who has led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with your great power, and with an exalted arm, and has made a name for yourself, just as on this day,

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12  we have sinned, we become impious, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all your principles.

12  O Lord our God, we have sinned, we have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all thine ordinances.

13  May your wrath be turned away from us because, having been forsaken, we are few among the irreligious where you have scattered us.

13  Let thy wrath turn from us: for we are but a few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us.

14  Heed, O Lord, our petitions and our prayers, and deliver us for your own sake, and grant that we may find favor before the face of those who have led us away,

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  so that all the earth may know that you are the Lord our God, and because your name has been invoked over Israel and over his posterity.

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  Gaze upon us, O Lord, from your holy home, and incline your ear, and heed us.

16  O Lord, look down from thine holy house, and consider us: bow down thine ear, O Lord, to hear us.

17  Open your eyes and see, because the dead, who are in the underworld, whose spirit has been taken away from their vital organs, will not give honor and justification to the Lord.

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

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18  But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil, approaches bowed down and weak, and the failing eyes and the hungering soul give glory and justice to you, the Lord.

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19  For it is not according to the righteousness of our fathers that we pour out our petitions and beg mercy in your sight, O Lord our God,

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  but because you have sent your wrath and your fury upon us, just as you have spoken by the hand of your children the prophets, saying

20  For thou hast sent out thy wrath and indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by thy servants the prophets, saying,

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21  “Thus says the Lord, ‘Bow down your shoulder and your neck, and do work for the king of Babylon, and settle in the land which I gave to your fathers,

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22  because, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon, I will cause you to depart from the cities of Judah and from the gates of Jerusalem.

22  But if ye will not hear the voice of the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon,

23  And I will take away from you the voice of cheerfulness and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and all the land will be without any trace of its inhabitants.’ ”

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  And they did not listen to your voice, that they should serve the king of Babylon, and so you have fulfilled your words, which you spoke by the hands of your children the prophets, so that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be carried away from their place.

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, behold, they have been cast out into the heat of the sun and the frost of the night, and they have died by means of grievous evils, by famine, and by the sword, and by banishment.

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 you have set up the temple, in which your name itself was called upon, just as it is on this day, because of the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

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  And you have accomplished in us, O Lord our God, according to all your goodness and according to all your great mercy,

27  O Lord our God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine,

28  just as you spoke by the hand of your child Moses, in the day when you commanded him to write your law before the sons of Israel,

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  saying: “If you will not listen to my voice, this great multitude will be changed into the least among the peoples, where I will scatter them.

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 know that the people will not listen to me, for the people are stiff necked. But they will have a change of their heart in the land of their captivity,

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 they will know that I am the Lord their God. And I will give them a heart, and they will understand, ears, and they will hear.

31  And shall know that I am the Lord their God: for I will give them an heart, and ears to hear

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32  And they will praise me in the land of their captivity, and will remember my name.

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33  And they will turn themselves away from their stiff back, and from their wicked deeds, for they will call to mind the way of their fathers, who sinned against me.

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 restore them to the land which I pledged to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it, and I will multiply them, and they will not be diminished.

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 establish for them a new and everlasting covenant, so that I will be their God and they will be my people. And I will no longer move my people, the sons of Israel, out of the land which I have given them.”

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.

3:1  “ ‘And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the troubled spirit cry out to you.

O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish the troubled spirit, crieth unto thee.

3:2  Listen, O Lord, and be merciful, for you are a merciful God, and so be merciful to us, for we have sinned before you.

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; ar thou art merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before thee.

3:3  For you are enthroned in eternity, but we will pass away in time.

For thou endurest for ever, and we perish utterly.

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3:4  O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, listen now to the prayer of the dead of Israel and of their sons, who have sinned before you and have not listened to the voice of the Lord their God, and have joined themselves to evil.

3:5  Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but remember your hand and your name at this time.

3:6  For you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you, O Lord.

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3:7  And for this reason, you have imparted your fear into our hearts, and also, so that we may call upon your name and may praise you in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before you.

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.

3:8  And, behold, we are still in our captivity on this day, where you have scattered us into disgrace, and into slander, and into sin, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who withdrew from you, O Lord our God.

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.