1   This is the book of Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah, written in Babylon, 2   on the seventh day of the month, in the fifth year after the Chaldaeans had captured and burnt Jerusalem.

3   Baruch read the book aloud to Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and to all the people who had assembled to hear it: 4   the nobles, the princes of the royal blood, the elders, and the whole community, high and low—in short, all who lived in Babylon, by the river Soud. 5    6   Then they prayed to the Lord with tears and fasting; and each of them collected as much money as he could, 7   and they sent it to Jerusalem, to Jehoiakim the high priest, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, and to the priests and all the people who were with him. 8   This was the time when he took the vessels belonging to the house of the Lord which had been looted from the temple, and returned them to the land of Judah, on the tenth of the month Sivan. These were the silver vessels made by Zedekiah son of Josiah, 9   king of Judah, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah, the rulers, the captives, the nobles, and the common people from Jerusalem and taken them to Babylon.

10   They said: We are sending you money to buy whole-offerings, sin-offerings, and incense; provide a grain-offering, and offer them all upon the altar of the Lord our God; 11   and pray for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and for his son Belshazzar, that their life on earth may last as long as the heavens. 12   So the Lord will give us strength, and light to walk by, and we shall live under the protection of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and of Belshazzar his son; we shall give them long service and gain their favour. 13   Pray also for us to the Lord our God, because we have sinned against him, and to this day the Lord's anger and wrath have not been averted from us.

14   You are to read this book that we are sending you, and make your confession in the house of the Lord on the feast day and during the festal season, and say: 15   The Lord our God is in the right; but on us the shame rests to this very day—on the men of Judah, the citizens of

A message to a conquered people Jerusalem, 16   on our kings and rulers, on our priests and prophets, and on our fathers. 17    18   We have sinned against the Lord and disobeyed him; we did not listen to the Lord our God or follow the precepts he gave us. 19   From the day when the Lord brought our fathers out of Egypt until now, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God and have heedlessly disregarded his voice. 20   So here we are today in the grip of adversity, suffering under the curse which the Lord commanded his servant Moses to pronounce, when he led our fathers out of Egypt to give us a land flowing with milk and honey. 21   Moreover we refused to hear the Lord our God speaking in all the words of the prophets he sent us; 22   we went our own way, each following the promptings of his own wicked heart, serving other gods, doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

1   So the Lord made good the warning he had given to us, to our magistrates in Israel, our kings and our rulers, and the men of Israel and Judah. 2   Nowhere under heaven have such deeds been done as were done in Jerusalem, thus fulfilling what was foretold in the law of Moses, 3   that we should eat the flesh of our children, one his own son and another his own daughter. 4   The Lord made our nation subject to all the kingdoms round us, our land a waste, our name a byword to all the nations among whom he had scattered our people. 5   Instead of rising to the top, they sank to the bottom, because we sinned against the Lord our God and did not listen to his voice. 6   The Lord our God is in the right; but on us and our fathers the shame rests to this very day. 7   All these evils of which the Lord warned us have come about. 8   Yet we did not entreat the Lord that we might all turn away from the thoughts of our wicked hearts. 9   The Lord kept strict watch and brought these evils on our heads, because he is just; he laid all these commandments upon us, 10   but we did not listen to his voice or follow the precepts which he gave us.

11   And now, Lord God of Israel, who didst bring thy people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with signs and portents, with great power and arm uplifted, winning for thyself a renown that lives on to this day: 12   by our sin, our godlessness, and our injustice we have broken all thy commandments, O Lord our God. 13   Be angry with us no longer, for we are left a mere handful among the heathen where thou hast scattered us. 14   Listen, O Lord, to our prayer and our entreaty, deliver us for thy own sake, and grant us favour with those who have taken us into exile, 15   so that the whole earth may know that thou art

A message to a conquered people the Lord our God, who hast named Israel and his posterity as thy own.

16   O Lord, look down from thy holy dwelling and think of us. Turn thy ear to us, Lord, and hear us; open thine eyes and see. 17   The dead are in their graves, the breath is gone from their bodies; it is not they who can sing the Lord's praises or applaud his justice; 18   it is living men, mourning their fall from greatness, walking the earth bent and feeble, blind and famished—it is these who will sing thy praises, O Lord, and applaud thy justice.

19   Not for any just deeds of our fathers and our kings do we lay before thee our plea for pity, O Lord our God. 20   Thou hast vented upon us that wrath and anger of which thou didst warn us through thy servants the prophets who said: 21   ‘These are the words of the Lord: Bow your shoulders and serve the king of Babylon and you shall remain in the land that I gave to your fathers; 22   but if you do not listen to the Lord and serve the king of Babylon, 23   then I will banish from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah all sounds of joy and merriment, the voice of bride and bridegroom; the whole land shall lie waste and uninhabited.’ 24   But we did not obey thy command to serve the king of Babylon. And so thou didst make good the warning given through thy servants the prophets: the bones of our kings and of our fathers have been taken from their resting-place; 25   and there they lie, exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. They died a painful death by famine, sword, and disease. ^note 26   And because of the wickedness of Israel and Judah the house that was named as thine has become what it is today.

27   Yet thou hast shown us, O Lord our God, all thy wonted forbearance and great mercy. 28   For this is what thou didst promise through thy servant Moses, on the day thou didst command him to write thy law in the presence of the Israelites: 29   ‘If you will not listen to my voice, this great swarming multitude will be reduced to a tiny remnant among the heathen where I will scatter them. 30   I know they will not hear me, this stubborn people, but in the land of their exile 31   they will come to their senses and know that I am the Lord their God. 32   I will give them a mind to understand and ears to hear. Then they will praise me in the land of their exile and will turn their thoughts to me; 33   they will repent of their stubbornness and their wicked deeds, for they will recall how their fathers sinned against the

A message to a conquered people Lord. 34   Then I will restore them to the land that I swore to give to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall rule over it. And I will increase their number: they shall never dwindle away. 35   I will enter into an eternal covenant with them, that I will become their God and they shall become my people. Never again will I remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them.’

1   O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the fainting spirit cry out to thee. 2   Listen, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against thee. 3   Thou art enthroned for ever; we are for ever passing away. 4   Now, Almighty Lord, God of Israel, hear the prayer of Israel's dead and of the sons of those who sinned against thee. They did not heed the voice of their God, and so we are in the grip of adversity. 5   Do not recall the misdeeds of our fathers, but remember now thy power and thy name, 6   for thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord. 7   It is for this that thou hast put the fear of thee in our hearts, to make us call upon thy name. And we will praise thee in our exile, for we have put away from us all the wrongdoing of our fathers who sinned against thee. 8   Today we are in exile; thou hast scattered us and made us a byword and a curse, to be punished for all the sins of our fathers, who rebelled against the Lord our God.

9   Listen, Israel, to the commandments of life; hear, and learn wisdom. 10   Why is it, Israel, that you are in your enemies' country, that you have grown old in an alien land? Why have you shared the 11   defilement of the dead and been numbered with those that lie in the grave? 12    13   It is because you have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of God, you would have lived in peace for ever. 14   Where is understanding, where is strength, where is intelligence? Learn that, and then you will know where to find life and light to walk by, long life and peace. 15   Has any man discovered the dwelling-place of wisdom or entered her storehouse? 16   Where are the rulers of the nations now? 17   Where are those who have hunted wild beasts or the birds of the air for sport? Where are those who have hoarded the silver and gold men trust in, never satisfied with their gains? 18   Where are the silversmiths with their patient skill and the secrets of their craft? 19   They have all vanished and gone down to the grave, and others have risen to take their place. 20   A younger generation saw the light of day and dwelt in the land. But they did not learn the way of

A message to a conquered people knowledge, or discover its paths; 21   they did not lay hold of it; their sons went far astray. 22   Wisdom was not heard of in Canaan, nor seen in Teman. 23   The sons of Hagar who sought for understanding on earth, the merchants of Merran and Teman, the myth-makers, the seekers after knowledge, none of them discovered the way of wisdom, or remembered her paths.

24   How great, O Israel, is God's dwelling-place, how vast the extent of his domain! 25   Great it is, and boundless, lofty, and immeasurable. 26   There in ancient time the giants were born, a famous race, great in stature, skilled in war. 27   But these men were not chosen by God, nor shown the way of knowledge. 28   So their race died out because they had no understanding; they lacked the wit to survive. 29   Has any man gone up to heaven to gain wisdom and brought her down from the clouds? 30   Has any man crossed the sea to find her or bought her for fine gold? 31   No one can know the path or conceive the way that will lead to her. 32   Only the One who knows all things knows her: his understanding discovered her. He who established the earth for all time filled it with four-footed beasts. 33   He sends forth the light, and it goes on its way; he called it, it feared him and obeyed. 34   The stars shone at their appointed stations and rejoiced; he called them and they answered, ‘We are here!’ Joyfully they shone for their Maker. 35    36   This is our God; there is none to compare with him. The whole way of knowledge he found out and gave to Jacob his servant, and to Israel, whom he loved. 37   Thereupon wisdom appeared on earth and lived among men.

1   She is the book of the commandments of God, the law that stands for ever. All who hold fast to her shall live, but those who forsake her shall die. 2   Return, Jacob, and lay hold of her; set your course towards her radiance, and face her beacon light. 3   Do not give up your glory to another or your privileges to an alien people. 4   Happy are we, Israel, because we know what is pleasing to God!

5    6   Take heart, my people, you who keep Israel's name alive. You were sold to the heathen, but not to be destroyed; it was because you roused God's anger that you were handed over to your enemies. 7   You provoked your Maker by sacrificing to demons and to that which is not God. 8   You forgot the Everlasting God who nurtured you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you; 9   for she saw how God's anger had come upon you, and she said: Listen, you neighbours of Zion, God has brought great grief upon me. 10   I have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters which the Everlasting has inflicted upon

A message to a conquered people them; 11   I nursed them in delight, but with tears and mourning I saw them go. 12   Let no one exult over me in my widowhood, bereaved of so many. I have been left desolate through the sins of my children, through their turning away from the law of God. 13   They would not learn his statutes, or follow his commandments, or let God guide and train them in his righteousness.

14   Come then, neighbours of Zion, remember the captivity of my sons and daughters which the Everlasting has inflicted upon them. 15   For he brought down on them a nation from far away, a ruthless nation speaking a strange language and without reverence for age or pity for children. 16   They carried off the widow's beloved sons, and left her in loneliness, deprived of her daughters. 17   But I, how can I help you? 18   Only the One who brought these evils upon you can deliver you from your enemies. 19   Go your way, my children, go, for I am left desolate. 20   I have put off the robes of peaceful days, and put on the sackcloth of a suppliant. I will cry out to the Everlasting as long as I live.

21   Take heart, my children! Cry out to God, and he will rescue you from tyranny and from the power of your enemies. 22   For I have set my hope of your deliverance on the Everlasting; the Holy One, your everlasting saviour, has filled me with joy over the mercy soon to be granted you. 23   I saw you go with mourning and tears, but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever. 24   For as the neighbours of Zion have now seen your captivity, so they will soon see your deliverance coming upon you from your God with the great glory and splendour of the Everlasting. 25   My children, endure in patience the wrath God has brought upon you; your enemy has hunted you down, but soon you will see him destroyed, and will put your foot upon his neck. 26   My pampered children have trodden rough paths; they have been carried off like a flock seized by raiders.

27   Take heart, my children! Cry out to God, for he who afflicted you will not forget you. 28   You once resolved to go astray from God; now with tenfold zeal you must turn about and seek him. 29   He who brought these calamities upon you will bring you everlasting joy when he delivers you.

30   Take heart, Jerusalem! He who called you by name will comfort you. 31   Wretched shall they be who despoiled you and gloated over your fall; 32   wretched the cities where your children were slaves; wretched the city that received your sons! 33   The same city that rejoiced

A message to a conquered people at your downfall and made merry over your ruin shall grieve over her own desolation. 34   I will strip her of the multitudes that were her boast, and turn her pride to mourning. 35   Fire from the Everlasting shall be her doom for many a day, and long shall she be a haunt of demons.

36   Jerusalem, look eastwards and see the joy that is coming to you from God. 37   They come, the sons from whom you parted, they come, gathered together at the word of the Holy One from east to west, rejoicing in the glory of God.

1   Jerusalem, strip off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, and put on for ever the glorious majesty that is the gift of God. 2   Wrap about you his robe of righteousness; set on your head for diadem the splendour of the Everlasting; 3   for God will show your radiance to every land under heaven. 4   You shall receive from God for ever the name Righteous Peace, Godly Splendour.

5   Jerusalem, arise and stand upon the height; look eastwards and see from west to east your children gathered together at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them. 6   They went away from you on foot, led off by their enemies, but God is bringing them home to you borne aloft in glory, like a king on his throne. 7   For God has commanded every high mountain and the everlasting hills to be made low, and the valleys to be filled and levelled, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. 8   And woods and every fragrant tree shall give Israel shade by God's command. 9   For God shall lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory, granting them his mercy and his righteousness.

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