Baruch 1:15-2:10

Revised Standard Version

Confession of Sins

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.

2 “‘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.