Baruch 2
Good News Translation
2 1 So the Lord carried out the threat he had made against us and against our judges, our kings, our rulers, and the people of Israel and Judah. 2 Nowhere else on earth have such things happened as happened in Jerusalem when the Lord carried out the threats written in the Law of Moses. 3 Things were so bad that we even ate the flesh of our own sons and daughters. 4 The Lord scattered our people, handing us over to the control of all the nations around us, and they looked on us with reproach and horror. 5 We sinned against the Lord our God and refused to obey him. Therefore, our nation was conquered, instead of being victorious. 6 The Lord our God is always righteous, but we and our ancestors are still burdened with our guilt. 7 Even though the Lord punished us as he had threatened, 8 we still did not turn to him and pray that we would abandon our evil thoughts. 9-10 We did not obey him or live by his just commands, so the Lord brought on us all the punishments he had kept ready for us.
The Prayer for Deliverance
11 You, O Lord, are the God of Israel who brought your people out of Egypt with great power and with signs, miracles, and wonders. You showed your mighty strength and gained a glorious reputation, which is still recognized today. 12 O Lord our God, we have sinned; we have been unfaithful; we have disobeyed all your commands. 13 But do not be angry with us any longer. Here among the nations where you have scattered us, only a few of us are left. 14 Listen to our prayer of petition, Lord, and rescue us for the sake of your own honor. Let those who have taken us into exile be pleased with us. 15 Then the whole world will know that you are the Lord our God and that you have chosen the nation of Israel to be your own people. 16 O Lord, look down from heaven and see our misery. Listen to our prayer. 17 Open your eyes and look upon us. Those in the world of the dead with no breath left in their bodies cannot offer praises to you or proclaim how just you are. 18 Only the living, O Lord, can offer you praise and acknowledge your justice, even though they may be suffering greatly, bent and weak, hungry and with failing eyesight. 19 O Lord our God, we pray to you for mercy, but not because of any good things done by our ancestors and our kings. 20 You turned your anger and wrath against us, just as you had threatened to do when your servants the prophets spoke your word to us and said, 21 (A)
Bend your backs and serve the king of Babylonia, and you can remain in the land that I gave to your ancestors. 22 But if you refuse to obey my command to serve him, 23 I will bring to an end every sound of joy and celebration in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem. Even the happy sounds of wedding feasts will no longer be heard. The whole land will be desolate and uninhabited.
24 (B)But we did not obey your command to serve the king of Babylonia, so you carried out the threat that you had made when you spoke through your servants the prophets, when you said that the bones of our kings and of our ancestors would be taken from their tombs and scattered. 25 And now here they lie exposed to the heat of the day and to the frost of the night. They died in torment from famine, war, and disease. 26 And because of the sin of the people of Israel and Judah, you have reduced your own Temple to ruins, even as it is today. 27 But, Lord, you have been patient with us and have shown us great mercy, 28 (C)as you promised through your servant Moses on the day you commanded him to write your Law in the presence of the Israelites.
29 If you do not obey me, you said,
you will be reduced to a handful among the nations where I will scatter you. 30 I know that you will not obey me, because you are a stubborn people. But when you are taken into exile in another land, you will come to your senses. 31 Then you will realize that I am the Lord your God, and I will give you a desire to know and a mind with which to understand. 32 There in the land of your exile you will praise me and remember me. 33 You will stop being so stubborn and wicked, for you will remember what happened to your ancestors when they sinned against the Lord. 34 Then I will bring you back to the land that I solemnly promised to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it will be yours again. I will increase your population, and you will never again be reduced to a small number. 35 (D)I will make an everlasting covenant with you; I will be your God and you will be my people. I will never again remove you, the people of Israel, from the land that I gave you.
Baruch 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 “So the Lord carried out the threat[a] he spoke against us: against our judges who ruled Israel and against our kings and our rulers and the people of Israel and Judah.(A) 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,(B) 3 that we would each eat the flesh of our sons and the flesh of our daughters.(C) 4 He made them subject to all the kingdoms around us, to be an object of scorn and a desolation among all the surrounding peoples, where the Lord has scattered them.(D) 5 They were brought down and not raised up, because we sinned against the Lord our God and did not listen to his voice.(E)
6 “To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us, this day, open shame.(F) 7 All those calamities with which the Lord threatened us have come upon us.(G) 8 Yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord by turning away, each of us, from the thoughts of our wicked hearts.(H) 9 And the Lord has kept the calamities ready, and the Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is just in all the works that he has commanded us to do.(I) 10 Yet we have not obeyed his voice, to walk in the statutes of the Lord that he set before us.(J)
Prayer for Deliverance
11 “And now, O Lord God of Israel, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and with signs and wonders and with great power and outstretched arm and made yourself a name that continues to this day,(K) 12 we have sinned, we have been ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God, against all your ordinances.(L) 13 Let your anger turn away from us, for we are left few in number among the nations where you have scattered us.(M) 14 Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our entreaty, and for your own sake deliver us and grant us favor in the sight of those who have carried us into exile,(N) 15 so that all the earth may know that you are the Lord our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by your name.
16 “O Lord, look down from your holy dwelling and consider us. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear;(O) 17 open your 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,(P) 18 but the person who is deeply grieved, who walks bowed and feeble, with failing eyes and famished soul, will declare your glory and righteousness, O Lord.(Q)
19 “For it is not because of any righteous deeds of our ancestors or our kings that we bring before you our prayer for mercy, O Lord our God.(R) 20 For you have sent your anger and your wrath upon us, as you declared by your 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 that I gave to your ancestors.(S) 22 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and will not serve the king of Babylon,(T) 23 I will silence from the towns of Judah and from the region around Jerusalem the voice of joy 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.’(U)
24 “But we did not obey your voice to serve the king of Babylon, and you have carried out your threats[b] that you spoke by your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our ancestors would be brought out of their resting place,(V) 25 and indeed they have been thrown out to the heat of day and the frost of night. They perished in great misery, by famine and sword and pestilence.(W) 26 And the house that is called by your name you have made as it is today because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.(X)
God’s Promise Recalled
27 “Yet you have dealt with us, O Lord our God, in all your kindness and in all your great compassion, 28 as you spoke by your servant Moses on the day when you commanded him to write your 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.(Y) 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 have a change of heart(Z) 31 and know that I am the Lord their God. I will give them a heart that obeys and ears that hear;(AA) 32 they will praise me in the land of their exile and will remember my name 33 and turn from their stubbornness and their wicked deeds, for they will remember the ways of their ancestors, who sinned before the Lord. 34 I will bring them again into the land that I swore to give to their ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it, and I will increase them, and they will not be diminished.(AB) 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 that I have given them.’(AC)
Baruch 2
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
2 Wherefore the Lord our God hath made good his word, that he spoke to us, and to our judges that have judged Israel, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to all Israel and Juda:
2 That the Lord would bring upon us great evils, such as never happened under heaven, as they have come to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are 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 And he hath delivered them up to be under the hand of all the kings that are round about us, to be a reproach, and desolation among all the people, among whom the Lord hath scattered us.
5 And we are brought under, and are not uppermost: because we have sinned against the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice.
6 To the Lord our God belongeth justice: but to us, and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day.
7 For the Lord hath pronounced against us all these evils that are come upon us:
8 And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, that we might return every one of us from our most wicked ways.
9 And the Lord hath watched over us for evil, and hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is just in all his works which he hath commanded us:
10 And we have not hearkened to his voice to walk in the commandments of the Lord which he hath set before us.
11 And now, O Lord God of Israel, who hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with thy great power, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a name as at this day,
12 We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all thy justices.
13 Let thy wrath be turned away from us: for we are left a few among the nations where thou hast scattered us.
14 Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our petitions, and deliver us for thy own sake: and grant that we may find favour in the sight of them that have led us away:
15 That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, and that thy name is called upon Israel, and upon his posterity.
16 Look down upon us, O Lord, from thy holy house, and incline thy ear, and hear us.
17 Open thy eyes, and behold: for the dead that are in hell, whose spirit is taken away from their bowels, shall not give glory and justice to the Lord:
18 But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil she hath done, and goeth bowed down, and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul giveth glory and justice to thee the Lord.
19 For it is not for the justices of our fathers that we pour out our prayers, and beg mercy in thy sight, O Lord our God:
20 But because thou hast sent out thy wrath, and thy indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying:
21 Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoulder, and your neck, and serve the king of Babylon: and you shall remain in the land which I have given to your fathers.
22 But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon: I will cause you to depart out of the cities of Juda, and from without Jerusalem.
23 And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and all the land shall be without any footstep of inhabitants.
24 And they hearkened not to thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spokest by the hands of thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be removed out of their place:
25 And behold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine, and by the sword, and in banishment.
26 And thou hast made the temple, in which thy name was called upon, as it is at this day, for the iniquity of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda.
27 And thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, according to all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine:
28 As thou spokest by the hand of thy servant Moses, in the day when thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel,
29 Saying: If you will not hear my voice, this great multitude shall be turned into a very small number among the nations, where I will scatter them:
30 For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity:
31 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear.
32 And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall be mindful of my name.
33 And they shall turn away themselves from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, that sinned against me.
34 And I will bring them back again into the land which I promised with an oath to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be masters thereof: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished.
35 And I will make with them another covenant that shall be everlasting, to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will no more remove my people, the children of Israel, out of the land that I have given them.
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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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