Baruch 3-4

Good News Translation

3 O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, from the depth of our troubled, weary souls we cry out to you. ² Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy on us, because we have sinned against you. ³ You reign as king forever, but we die and are gone forever. ⁴ O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear our prayer. We are no better off than the dead. Our ancestors sinned against you, the Lord their God. They refused to obey you, and we are suffering the consequences of their sin. ⁵ Forget the sinful things that our ancestors did in the past; at a time like this, think only of your power and reputation, ⁶ for you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you. ⁷ You have made us fear you, so that we might pray to you. Here in exile we will praise you because we have turned away from the sins of our ancestors. ⁸ You have scattered us among the nations, and you have made them despise and curse us. You are punishing us for the sins of our ancestors when they rebelled against you, the Lord our God.

In Praise of Wisdom

^9 (A)Listen, Israel, to the commands that promise life; pay attention, and you will become wise. ¹⁰ Why is it, Israel, that you find yourself in an enemy land? Why have you grown old in a foreign country? You are ritually unclean, like the dead; ¹¹ you are already counted among the dead. But why? ¹² It is because you have left the source of Wisdom! ¹³ If you had walked in God's ways, you would have lived in peace forever. ¹⁴ Learn where understanding, strength, and insight are to be found. Then you will know where to find a long and full life, light to guide you, and peace.

^15 (B)No one has ever found where Wisdom lives or has entered her treasure house, ^16-17 and those who have tried have vanished: the rulers of the nations, those who hunted wild animals and birds for sport, those who accumulated vast fortunes of silver and gold, which everyone trusts and will do anything to get, ¹⁸ and those who worried and schemed to make money, but who left no trace of their work behind. ¹⁹ They have all disappeared and gone down to the world of the dead. Others have come along to take their place. ²⁰ A later generation was born and lived in the land, but they too did not discover the way to knowledge. They did not find the path to Wisdom or ever reach her. ²¹ Their children also failed. ²² Wisdom was not found by the Canaanites. It has not been discovered by the Edomites ²³ although they search after knowledge. The way to Wisdom has not been found by the merchants of Merran and Tema or by those who relate fables or by any others who seek understanding.

²⁴ O Israel, how great is the universe in which God dwells! How vast is all that he possesses! ²⁵ There is no end to it; there is no way to measure how wide or how high it is. ^26 (C)Here in early times the famous giants were born, a mighty race skilled in war. ²⁷ But God did not choose them to be his people or show them the way of knowledge. ²⁸ They died out because they had neither understanding nor insight.

²⁹ No one has ever gone up into heaven to get Wisdom and bring her down out of the clouds. ³⁰ No one has sailed across the seas to find Wisdom or bought her with precious gold. ³¹ No one knows how to get to her or how to discover the path that leads to her.

³² The only one who knows Wisdom is God, and he knows all things. With his understanding he found her. He established the earth for all time and filled it with all kinds of animals. ³³ The light trembled and obeyed when he called. He sent it forth, and it appeared. ³⁴ He called the stars, and they promptly answered; they took their places and gladly shone to please the one who made them. ³⁵ He is our God, and there is none like him. ³⁶ He discovered the entire path leading to understanding and gave Wisdom to his servant Israel, whom he loved. ³⁷ From that time on, Wisdom appeared on earth and lived among us.

4 ^(D)Wisdom is the book of God's commandments, the Law that will last forever. All who hold onto her will live, but those who abandon her will die. ² Turn to Wisdom, people of Israel, and take hold of her. Make your way toward the splendor of her light. ³ Do not surrender our glorious privileges to any other people. ⁴ How happy we are, people of Israel; we have the advantage of knowing what is pleasing to God!

Comfort for Jerusalem

⁵ Take courage, my people, you are the ones who keep Israel's name alive. ⁶ You were sold to Gentile nations, but not to be destroyed. Because you made God angry, he handed you over to your enemies. ⁷ When you offered sacrifices to demons instead of to God, you angered the one who made you. ⁸ You forgot the Eternal God, who had nourished you as a child, and so you brought grief to Jerusalem, who had been like a mother to you. ⁹ Jerusalem saw that God was punishing you because he was angry, and she said to all the neighboring cities,

¹⁴ All you neighboring cities, come and consider how the Eternal God has sent my children into exile. ¹⁵ He brought against them a nation from far away, a shameless nation that speaks a foreign language and has no respect for the elderly and no pity for children. ¹⁶ These people carried off my beloved sons and took away my daughters, and I was left a widow, completely alone.

¹⁷ My children in exile, I can do nothing to help you. ¹⁸ Only the one who brought this punishment upon you can rescue you from your enemies. ^19 (E)Go your own way, my children; live your own life! I am all alone. ²⁰ I have taken off the robes I wore during days of peace, and I have dressed myself like a person in mourning. I will cry out to the Eternal God for help as long as I live.

²¹ Take courage, my children, and cry out to God for help. He will rescue you from oppression, from the power of your enemies. ²² I am confident that the Eternal God will soon set you free. The Holy One, your eternal savior, will make me happy when he shows you mercy. ²³ I cried and wailed when you were taken away, but God will bring you back and will make me happy forever. ²⁴ Just as the neighboring cities watched as you were taken captive, so they will soon see the Eternal God coming in glorious splendor to rescue you. ²⁵ My children, endure God's punishment with patience. Your enemies have persecuted you, but you will soon see them destroyed and at your mercy. ²⁶ My children, I spoiled you with love, but you have had to follow rugged paths; you were carried off like sheep caught in an enemy raid.

²⁷ Take courage, my children, and cry out to God for help. He punished you, but he will not forget you. ²⁸ Just as you were once determined to turn away from God, now turn back and serve him with ten times more determination. ²⁹ The one who brought these calamities upon you will rescue you and bring you everlasting joy.

Jerusalem Is Assured of Help

³⁰ Take courage, Jerusalem. God, who gave you your name, will now bring comfort to you. ³¹ Misery will come to those who mistreated you and then rejoiced when you fell. ³² Misery will come to those cities that made your children slaves. Misery will be the fate of Babylon, that city which swallowed up your children. ³³ Just as that city rejoiced when you fell and took delight in your ruin, so now she will mourn when she herself is deserted. ³⁴ I will turn her proud boastings into mourning and take away her large population in which she took pride. ³⁵ I, the Eternal God, will send down fire on her, and it will burn for many days. Her ruins will be haunted by demons for a long time to come.

³⁶ Look to the east, Jerusalem, and see the joy that God is bringing to you. ³⁷ Look, your children are coming home, the children that were taken from you. They have been gathered together from the east and from the west by the command of God, the Holy One. And now they are coming home, rejoicing in the glory of God.