Baruch 2:11-26

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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,^{(A) 12} we have sinned, we have been ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God, against all your ordinances.^{(B) 13} Let your anger turn away from us, for we are left few in number among the nations where you have scattered us.^{(C) 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,^{(D) 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;^{(E) 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,^{(F) 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.^(G)

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.^{(H) 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.^{(I) 22} But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and will not serve the king of Babylon,^{(J) 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.’^(K)

²⁴ “But we did not obey your voice to serve the king of Babylon, and you have carried out your threats^[a] 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,^{(L) 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.^{(M) 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.^(N)