Baruch 1–5

^aAnd these are the words of the book, which ^bBaruch the son of ^cNerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Asadias, the son of Chelcias, wrote in Babylon, ²in ^dthe fifth year, and ^din the seventh day of the month, what time as the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire. ³And ^bBaruch did read the words of this book in the hearing of ^eJechonias the son of Joachim king of Juda, and in the ears of all the people that came to hear the book, ⁴and in the hearing of the nobles, and of the kings’ sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and of all the people, ^ffrom the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon, by the river Sud. ⁵Whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord. ⁶They made also a collection of money ^gaccording to every man’s power: ⁷and they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest, the son of ^hChelcias, son of ⁱSalom, and to the priests, and to all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem, ⁸at the same time when he received ^kthe vessels of the house of the Lord, that were carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month ^lSivan, namely, ^msilver vessels, which ⁿSedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made, ⁹after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon ^dhad carried away ^eJechonias, and the princes, and the captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought them unto Babylon.

¹⁰And they said, Behold, we have sent you ^omoney to buy you ^pburnt offerings, and ^qsin offerings, and ^rincense, and prepare ye manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God; ¹¹and ^spray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of ^tBalthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as ^uthe days of heaven: ¹²and the Lord will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we shall live ^xunder the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and under the shadow of ^tBalthasar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and ^yfind favour in their sight. ¹³Pray for us also unto the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God; and unto this day the fury of the Lord and his wrath is not turned from us. ¹⁴And ye shall read ^zthis book which we have sent unto you, to make confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and solemn days. ¹⁵And ye shall say,

^aTo the Lord our God belongeth righteousness, but unto us ^bthe confusion of faces, ⁱas it is come to pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ¹⁶and to our ^ckings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers: ¹⁷for ^dwe have sinned before the Lord, ^18dand disobeyed him, and ^ehave not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, ^eto walk in the commandments that he gave us openly: ¹⁹since the day that the Lord brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, unto this present day, we have been disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not hearing his voice. ²⁰Wherefore ^fthe evils cleaved unto us, and ^gthe curse, which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us ^ha land that floweth with milk and honey, like ⁱas it is to see this day. ^21eNevertheless we have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, ^kaccording unto all the words of the prophets, whom he sent unto us: ²²but every man followed the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve ^lstrange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

II.Therefore ^athe Lord hath made good his word, which he pronounced against us, and against our judges that judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Juda, ²to bring upon us great plagues, such as never happened under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, ^aaccording to the things that were written in the law of Moses; ^3bthat a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter. ⁴Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to ^call the kingdoms that are round about us, ^dto be as a reproach and ^edesolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them. ⁵Thus we were cast down, and not exalted, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, and have not been obedient unto his voice. ^6fTo the Lord our God appertaineth righteousness: but unto us and to our fathers open shame, ^oas appeareth this day. ⁷For ^agall these plagues are come upon us, which the Lord hath pronounced against us. ^8hYet have we not prayed before the Lord, that we might turn every one from the imaginations of his wicked heart. ⁹ⁱWherefore the Lord watched over us for evil, and the Lord hath brought it upon us: for ^kthe Lord is righteous in all his works which he hath commanded us. ^10ilYet we have not hearkened unto his voice, ^lto walk in the commandments of the Lord, that he hath set before us. ^11mAnd now, O Lord God of Israel, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and high arm, and with signs, and with wonders, and with great power, and ⁿhast gotten thyself a name, ^oas appeareth this day: ¹²O Lord our God, ^mpwe have sinned, we have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all thine ordinances. ^13qLet thy wrath turn from us: ^rfor we are but a few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us. ^14sHear our prayers, O Lord, and our petitions, and deliver us for thine own sake, and ^tgive us favour in the sight of them which have led us away: ^15uthat all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, because ^xIsrael and his posterity is called by thy name. ¹⁶O Lord, ^ylook down from thy holy house, and consider us: ^zbow down thine ear, O Lord, to hear us. ¹⁷Open thine eyes, and behold; ^afor the dead that are in the graves, whose souls are taken from their bodies, will give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousness: ¹⁸but ^bthe soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will give thee praise and righteousness, O Lord. ^19bTherefore we do not make our humble supplication before thee, O Lord our God, for the righteousness of our fathers, and of our kings. ²⁰For thou hast sent out thy wrath and indignation upon us, ^cas thou hast spoken by thy servants the prophets, saying,

²¹Thus saith the Lord, Bow down your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon: so shall ye remain in the land that I gave unto your fathers. ²²But if ye will not hear the voice of the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon, ^23eI will cause to cease out of the cities of Juda, and from without Jerusalem, the voice of ^eemirth, and the voice of ^eejoy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: and the whole land shall be ^fdesolate of inhabitants.

²⁴But we would not hearken unto thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: therefore hast thou ^gmade good the words that thou spakest by thy servants the prophets, namely, ^hthat the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers, should be taken out of their places. ²⁵And lo, ^hithey are cast out to the heat of the day, and to the frost of the night, and they died in great miseries ^kby famine, by sword, and by pestilence. ²⁶And ^lthe house which is called by thy name hast thou laid waste, ^mas it is to be seen this day, for the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Juda. ²⁷O Lord our God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy ⁿgoodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine, ²⁸as thou spakest by thy servant Moses in the day when thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel, saying, ^29oIf ye will not hear my voice, surely this very great multitude shall be turned into a small number among the nations, where I will scatter them. ³⁰For I knew that they would not hear me, because it is a ^pstiffnecked people: but ^qin the land of their captivities they shall remember themselves, ³¹and ^rshall know that I am the Lord their God: for ^sI will give them a heart, and ears to hear: ^32qand they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and think upon my name, ³³and return from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, which sinned before the Lord. ³⁴And ^tI will bring them again into the land which I promised with an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be lords of it: and I will increase them, and they shall not be diminished. ³⁵And ^uI will make an everlasting covenant with them ^sto be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will ^xno more drive my people of Israel out of the land that I have given them.

III.O Lord ^aAlmighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish, the troubled spirit, crieth unto thee. ²Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; for thou art merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before thee. ^3bFor thou endurest for ever, and we perish utterly. ⁴O Lord ^aAlmighty, thou God of Israel, hear now the prayers of the ^cdead Israelites, and of their children, which have sinned before thee, and not hearkened unto the voice of thee their God: for the which cause ^dthese plagues cleave unto us. ⁵Remember not the iniquities of our forefathers: but think upon thy power and thy name now at this time. ⁶For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O Lord, will we praise. ⁷And for this cause 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 ^ewe have ^fcalled to mind all the iniquity of our forefathers, that sinned before thee. ⁸Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, ^gfor a reproach and ^ha curse, and ⁱto be subject to payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.

⁹Hear, Israel, the commandments of life:

Give ear to understand wisdom.

¹⁰How happeneth it, Israel, that thou art in thine…