Baruch 2:11-26

Common English Bible

Prayer for deliverance

¹¹ Now Lord God of Israel, you brought your people from Egypt by a powerful hand, by signs and wonders, with great power and an extended arm, and you have made your name famous to this very day.

¹² Lord our God, we have sinned. We were ungodly. We have broken all of your commandments. ¹³ Turn your anger away from us, for only a few of us remain among the nations where you have scattered us. ¹⁴ Lord, listen to our prayer and our pleading. For your own sake, set us free and give us favor with those who have brought us into exile ¹⁵ so that all the earth might know that you are the Lord our God, since Israel and her children carry your name.

¹⁶ Lord, look down on us from your holy house and think of us. Lord, bend your ear and listen. ¹⁷ Lord, open your eyes and look upon us. Surely the dead who are in the grave,^[a] whose spirit has been taken from their bodies, won’t acknowledge the Lord’s glory and justice! ¹⁸ But Lord, the one who is grieved, who goes about weak and bent over, whose eyes are failing and whose spirit is hungering—that one will acknowledge your glory and righteousness.

¹⁹ Lord our God, we are not basing our prayer for mercy on any righteous actions of our ancestors and rulers. ²⁰ You’ve sent your anger and wrath on us just as you spoke through your servants the prophets. You said: ²¹ “The Lord says: ‘Bend your shoulders and serve the king of Babylon, and then you’ll reside in the land that I gave to your ancestors. ²² But if you don’t listen to the Lord’s voice and serve the king of Babylon, ²³ I’ll bring an end to the sound of joy and gladness and the celebration of marriage from the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem. The whole land will be a wasteland without life.’”

²⁴ But we didn’t listen to your voice, to serve the king of Babylon, so you have carried out the words that you spoke through your servants the prophets. The bones of our rulers and ancestors were brought out of their tombs. ²⁵ Look, their bones have been thrown out into the heat of the day and the frost of the night. They died by many horrors, from famine, sword, and exile. ²⁶ Because of Israel’s and Judah’s evil, you have made the house that carries your name what it is today.