Baruch 3:1-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the wearied spirit cry out to you. 2 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned before you. 3 For you are enthroned forever, and we are perishing forever.(A) 4 O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear now the prayer of those of Israel who have died and of the children of those who sinned before you, who did not heed the voice of the Lord their God, so that calamities have clung to us.(B) 5 Do not remember the iniquities of our ancestors, but in this crisis remember your power and your name. 6 For you are the Lord our God, and it is you, O Lord, whom we will praise. 7 For you have put the fear of you in our hearts so that we would call upon your name, and we will praise you in our exile, for we have put away from our hearts all the iniquity of our ancestors who sinned against you.(C) 8 See, we are today in our exile where you have scattered us, to be reproached and cursed and punished for all the iniquities of our ancestors, who forsook the Lord our God.”(D)
In Praise of Wisdom
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life;
give ear and learn wisdom!
10 Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies,
that you are growing old in a foreign land,
11 that you are defiled with the dead,
that you are counted among those in Hades?(E)
12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.(F)
13 If you had walked in the way of God,
you would be living in peace forever.(G)
14 Learn where there is wisdom,
where there is strength,
where there is understanding,
so that you may at the same time discern
where there is length of days and life,
where there is light for the eyes and peace.(H)
15 Who has found her place,
and who has entered her storehouses?(I)
Baruch 3:32-4:4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
32 But the one who knows all things knows her;
he found her by his understanding.
The one who prepared the earth for all time
filled it with four-footed creatures;(A)
33 the one who sends forth the light and it goes,
he called it, and it obeyed him, trembling;
34 the stars shone in their watches and were glad;
35 he called them, and they said, “Here we are!”
They shone with gladness for him who made them.(B)
36 This is our God;
no other can be compared to him.
37 He found the whole way to knowledge
and gave her to his servant Jacob
and to Israel, whom he loved.(C)
38 Afterward she appeared on earth
and lived with humankind.(D)
4 She is the book of the commandments of God,
the law that endures forever.
All who hold her fast will live,
and those who forsake her will die.(E)
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her;
walk toward the shining of her light.(F)
3 Do not give your glory to another
or your advantages to a foreign nation.
4 Happy are we, O Israel,
for we know what is pleasing to God.(G)
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.