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.
Baruch 3-4
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
3 And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee:
2 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee.
3 For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly?
4 O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the dead of Israel, and of their children, that have sinned before thee, and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, wherefore evils have cleaved fast to us.
5 Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time:
6 For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:
7 Because for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee.
8 And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord our God.
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom.
10 How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies' land?
11 Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell.
12 Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom:
13 For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever.
14 Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.
15 Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures?
16 Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?
17 That take their diversion with the birds of the air.
18 That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable.
19 They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place.
20 Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known,
21 Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face.
22 It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.
23 The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths.
24 O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!
25 It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.
26 There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.
27 The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.
28 And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.
29 Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?
30 Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?
31 There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths:
32 But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts:
33 He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.
34 And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:
35 They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them.
36 This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.
37 He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.
38 Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.
4 This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, that is for ever: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have forsaken it, to death.
2 Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof.
3 Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation.
4 We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God, are made known to us.
5 Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel:
6 You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked God to wrath, you are delivered to your adversaries.
7 For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to God.
8 For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.
9 For she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, and she said: Give ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for God hath brought upon me great mourning:
10 For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
11 For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning.
12 Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken of many for the sins of my children, because they departed from the law of God.
13 And they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of God's commandments, neither have they entered by the paths of his truth and justice.
14 Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
15 For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked nation, and of a strange tongue:
16 Who have neither reverenced the ancient, nor pitied children, and have carried away the beloved of the widow, and have left me all alone without children.
17 But as for me, what help can I give you?
18 But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you out of the hands of your enemies.
19 Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone.
20 I have put off the robe of peace, and have put upon me the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the most High in my days.
21 Be of good comfort, my children, cry to the Lord, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the princes your enemies.
22 For my hope is in the Eternal that he will save you: and joy is come upon me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall come to you from our everlasting Saviour.
23 For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.
24 For as the neighbours of Sion have now seen your captivity from God: so shall they also shortly see your salvation from God, which shall come upon you with great honour, and everlasting glory.
25 My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you: for thy enemy hath persecuted thee, but thou shalt quickly see his destruction: and thou shalt get up upon his neck.
26 My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away as a flock made a prey by the enemies.
27 Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by him that hath led you away.
28 For as it was your mind to go astray from God; so when you return again you shall seek him ten times as much.
29 For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.
30 Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee.
31 The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished.
32 The cities which thy children have served, shall be punished: and she that received thy sons.
33 For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation.
34 And the joy of her multitude shall be cut off: and her gladness shall be turned to mourning.
35 For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal, long to endure, and she shall be inhabited by devils for a great time.
36 Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God.
37 For behold thy children come, whom thou sentest away scattered, they come gathered together from the east even to the west, at the word of the Holy One rejoicing for the honour of God.
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.
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