Baruch 3-4
Good News Translation
3 O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, from the depth of our troubled, weary souls we cry out to you. 2 Hear us, O Lord, and have mercy on us, because we have sinned against you. 3 You reign as king forever, but we die and are gone forever. 4 O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear our prayer. We are no better off than the dead. Our ancestors sinned against you, the Lord their God. They refused to obey you, and we are suffering the consequences of their sin. 5 Forget the sinful things that our ancestors did in the past; at a time like this, think only of your power and reputation, 6 for you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you. 7 You have made us fear you, so that we might pray to you. Here in exile we will praise you because we have turned away from the sins of our ancestors. 8 You have scattered us among the nations, and you have made them despise and curse us. You are punishing us for the sins of our ancestors when they rebelled against you, the Lord our God.
In Praise of Wisdom
9 (A)Listen, Israel, to the commands that promise life; pay attention, and you will become wise. 10 Why is it, Israel, that you find yourself in an enemy land? Why have you grown old in a foreign country? You are ritually unclean, like the dead; 11 you are already counted among the dead. But why? 12 It is because you have left the source of Wisdom! 13 If you had walked in God's ways, you would have lived in peace forever. 14 Learn where understanding, strength, and insight are to be found. Then you will know where to find a long and full life, light to guide you, and peace.
15 (B)No one has ever found where Wisdom lives or has entered her treasure house, 16-17 and those who have tried have vanished: the rulers of the nations, those who hunted wild animals and birds for sport, those who accumulated vast fortunes of silver and gold, which everyone trusts and will do anything to get, 18 and those who worried and schemed to make money, but who left no trace of their work behind. 19 They have all disappeared and gone down to the world of the dead. Others have come along to take their place. 20 A later generation was born and lived in the land, but they too did not discover the way to knowledge. They did not find the path to Wisdom or ever reach her. 21 Their children also failed. 22 Wisdom was not found by the Canaanites. It has not been discovered by the Edomites 23 although they search after knowledge. The way to Wisdom has not been found by the merchants of Merran and Tema or by those who relate fables or by any others who seek understanding.
24 O Israel, how great is the universe in which God dwells! How vast is all that he possesses! 25 There is no end to it; there is no way to measure how wide or how high it is. 26 (C)Here in early times the famous giants were born, a mighty race skilled in war. 27 But God did not choose them to be his people or show them the way of knowledge. 28 They died out because they had neither understanding nor insight.
29 No one has ever gone up into heaven to get Wisdom and bring her down out of the clouds. 30 No one has sailed across the seas to find Wisdom or bought her with precious gold. 31 No one knows how to get to her or how to discover the path that leads to her.
32 The only one who knows Wisdom is God, and he knows all things. With his understanding he found her. He established the earth for all time and filled it with all kinds of animals. 33 The light trembled and obeyed when he called. He sent it forth, and it appeared. 34 He called the stars, and they promptly answered; they took their places and gladly shone to please the one who made them. 35 He is our God, and there is none like him. 36 He discovered the entire path leading to understanding and gave Wisdom to his servant Israel, whom he loved. 37 From that time on, Wisdom appeared on earth and lived among us.
4 (D)Wisdom is the book of God's commandments, the Law that will last forever. All who hold onto her will live, but those who abandon her will die. 2 Turn to Wisdom, people of Israel, and take hold of her. Make your way toward the splendor of her light. 3 Do not surrender our glorious privileges to any other people. 4 How happy we are, people of Israel; we have the advantage of knowing what is pleasing to God!
Comfort for Jerusalem
5 Take courage, my people, you are the ones who keep Israel's name alive. 6 You were sold to Gentile nations, but not to be destroyed. Because you made God angry, he handed you over to your enemies. 7 When you offered sacrifices to demons instead of to God, you angered the one who made you. 8 You forgot the Eternal God, who had nourished you as a child, and so you brought grief to Jerusalem, who had been like a mother to you. 9 Jerusalem saw that God was punishing you because he was angry, and she said to all the neighboring cities,
Look at the great misery that God has brought on me. 10 I saw my sons and daughters taken into captivity, a captivity brought on them by the Eternal God. 11 I brought up my children with great delight, but I cried and mourned when they were taken from me. 12 Let no one take pleasure in my suffering now that I am a widow and so many of my children have been taken from me. They turned away from God's Law, and their sins have made me a deserted city. 13 They had no respect for his commandments and would not live by them; they refused to let him guide them in the way of righteousness.
14 All you neighboring cities, come and consider how the Eternal God has sent my children into exile. 15 He brought against them a nation from far away, a shameless nation that speaks a foreign language and has no respect for the elderly and no pity for children. 16 These people carried off my beloved sons and took away my daughters, and I was left a widow, completely alone.
17 My children in exile, I can do nothing to help you. 18 Only the one who brought this punishment upon you can rescue you from your enemies. 19 (E)Go your own way, my children; live your own life! I am all alone. 20 I have taken off the robes I wore during days of peace, and I have dressed myself like a person in mourning. I will cry out to the Eternal God for help as long as I live.
21 Take courage, my children, and cry out to God for help. He will rescue you from oppression, from the power of your enemies. 22 I am confident that the Eternal God will soon set you free. The Holy One, your eternal savior, will make me happy when he shows you mercy. 23 I cried and wailed when you were taken away, but God will bring you back and will make me happy forever. 24 Just as the neighboring cities watched as you were taken captive, so they will soon see the Eternal God coming in glorious splendor to rescue you. 25 My children, endure God's punishment with patience. Your enemies have persecuted you, but you will soon see them destroyed and at your mercy. 26 My children, I spoiled you with love, but you have had to follow rugged paths; you were carried off like sheep caught in an enemy raid.
27 Take courage, my children, and cry out to God for help. He punished you, but he will not forget you. 28 Just as you were once determined to turn away from God, now turn back and serve him with ten times more determination. 29 The one who brought these calamities upon you will rescue you and bring you everlasting joy.
Jerusalem Is Assured of Help
30 Take courage, Jerusalem. God, who gave you your name, will now bring comfort to you. 31 Misery will come to those who mistreated you and then rejoiced when you fell. 32 Misery will come to those cities that made your children slaves. Misery will be the fate of Babylon, that city which swallowed up your children. 33 Just as that city rejoiced when you fell and took delight in your ruin, so now she will mourn when she herself is deserted. 34 I will turn her proud boastings into mourning and take away her large population in which she took pride. 35 I, the Eternal God, will send down fire on her, and it will burn for many days. Her ruins will be haunted by demons for a long time to come.
36 Look to the east, Jerusalem, and see the joy that God is bringing to you. 37 Look, your children are coming home, the children that were taken from you. They have been gathered together from the east and from the west by the command of God, the Holy One. And now they are coming home, rejoicing in the glory of God.
Baruch 3-4
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)
16 Where are the rulers of the nations
and those who lorded it over the animals on earth;(J)
17 those who made sport of the birds of the air
and who hoarded up silver and gold
in which people trust,
and there is no end to their getting;(K)
18 those who schemed to get silver and were anxious,
but there is no trace of their works?
19 They have vanished and gone down to Hades,
and others have arisen in their place.(L)
20 Younger people have seen the light of day
and have lived upon the earth,
but they have not learned the way to knowledge,
nor understood her paths,
nor laid hold of her.(M)
21 Their descendants have strayed far from their[a] way.
22 She has not been heard of in Canaan
or seen in Teman;(N)
23 the descendants of Hagar, who seek for understanding on the earth,
the merchants of Merran and Teman,
the storytellers and the seekers for understanding,
have not learned the way to wisdom
or given thought to her paths.(O)
24 O Israel, how great is the house of God,
how vast the territory that he possesses!
25 It is great and has no bounds;
it is high and immeasurable.
26 The giants were born there, who were famous of old,
great in stature, expert in war.(P)
27 God did not choose them
or give them the way to knowledge,(Q)
28 so they perished because they had no wisdom;
they perished through their folly.
29 Who has gone up into heaven and taken her
and brought her down from the clouds?(R)
30 Who has gone over the sea and found her
and will buy her for pure gold?(S)
31 No one knows the way to her
or is concerned about the path to her.
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;(T)
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.(U)
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.(V)
38 Afterward she appeared on earth
and lived with humankind.(W)
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.(X)
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her;
walk toward the shining of her light.(Y)
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.(Z)
Encouragement for Israel
5 Take courage, my people,
who perpetuate Israel’s name!
6 It was not for destruction
that you were sold to the nations,
but you were handed over to your enemies
because you angered God.(AA)
7 For you provoked the one who made you
by sacrificing to demons and not to God.(AB)
8 You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up,
and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.
9 For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God,
and she said:
“Listen, you neighbors of Zion;
God has brought great sorrow upon me,(AC)
10 for I have seen the exile of my sons and daughters,
which the Everlasting brought upon them.
11 With joy I nurtured them,
but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.(AD)
12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow
and bereaved of many;
I was left desolate because of the sins of my children,
because they turned away from the law of God.(AE)
13 They had no regard for his statutes;
they did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments
or tread the paths his righteousness showed them.
14 Let the neighbors of Zion come;
remember the capture of my sons and daughters,
which the Everlasting brought upon them.(AF)
15 For he brought a distant nation against them,
a nation ruthless and of a strange language,
which had no respect for the aged
and no pity for a child.(AG)
16 They led away the widow’s beloved sons
and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters.
17 “But I, how can I help you?(AH)
18 For he who brought these calamities
will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.(AI)
19 Go, my children, go,
for I have been left desolate.(AJ)
20 I have taken off the robe of peace
and put on sackcloth for my supplication;
I will cry to the Everlasting all my days.(AK)
21 “Take courage, my children, cry to God,
and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.(AL)
22 For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,
and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy that will soon come to you
from your everlasting savior.[b]
23 For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,
but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness forever.(AM)
24 For as the neighbors of Zion have now seen your capture,
so they soon will see your salvation by God,
which will come to you with great glory
and with the splendor of the Everlasting.(AN)
25 My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.
Your enemy has overtaken you,
but you will soon see their destruction
and will tread upon their necks.(AO)
26 My pampered children have traveled rough roads;
they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.
27 “Take courage, my children, and cry to God,
for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.(AP)
28 For just as you were disposed to go astray from God,
return with tenfold zeal to seek him.
29 For the one who brought these calamities upon you
will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.”(AQ)
Jerusalem Is Assured of Help
30 Take courage, O Jerusalem,
for the one who named you will comfort you.(AR)
31 Wretched will be those who mistreated you
and who rejoiced at your fall.
32 Wretched will be the cities that your children served as slaves;
wretched will be the city that received your offspring.
33 For just as she rejoiced at your fall
and was glad for your ruin,
so she will be grieved at her own desolation.
34 I will take away her pride in her great population,
and her insolence will be turned to grief.(AS)
35 For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days,
and for a long time she will be inhabited by demons.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
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.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
