52:13. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.
52:14. And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.
52:15. But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
52:16. But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for vinedressers, and for husbandmen.
52:17. The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
52:18. And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen vessels that had been used in the ministry: and
52:19. The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver, in silver:
52:20. And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels.
52:21. And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.
52:22. And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and the pomegranates.
52:23. And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.
52:24. And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.
52:25. He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
52:26. And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.
52:27. And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of his land.
52:28. This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.
52:29. In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and thirty-two souls from Jerusalem.
52:30. In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty five souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred.
52:31. And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison.
52:32. And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
52:33. And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him always all the days of his life.
52:34. And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
In these JEREMIAS laments in a most pathetical manner the miseries of his people, and the destruction of JERUSALEM and the temple, in Hebrew verses, beginning with different letters according to the order of the Hebrew alphabet.
Lamentations Chapter 1
PREFACE: And it came to pass, after Israel was carried into captivity, and Jerusalem was desolate, that Jeremias the prophet sat weeping, and mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and with a sorrowful mind, sighing and moaning, he said:
And it came to pass, etc... This preface was not written by Jeremias, but was added by the seventy interpreters, to give the reader to understand upon what occasion the Lamentations were published.
1:1. Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of provinces made tributary!
1:2. Beth. Weeping, she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies.
1:3. Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place, because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage; she hath dwelt among the nations, and she hath found no rest; all her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits.
1:4. Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down; her priests sigh; her virgins are in affliction; and she is oppressed with bitterness. 1:5. He. Her adversaries are become her lords; her enemies are enriched; because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of her iniquities; her children are led into captivity, before the face of the oppressor.
1:6. Vau. And from the daughter of Sion, all her beauty is departed; her princes are become like rams that find no pastures; and they are gone away without strength before the face of the pursuer.
1:7. Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her affliction, and prevarication of all her desirable things which she had from the days of old, when her people fell in the enemy's hand, and there was no helper; the enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths.
1:8. Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become unstable; all that honoured her, have despised her, because they have seen her shame; but she sighed, and turned backward.
1:9. Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not remembered her end; she is wonderfully cast down, not having a comforter: behold, O Lord, my affliction, because the enemy is lifted up.
1:10. Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things: for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.
1:11. Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, 0 Lord, and consider, for I am become vile.
1:12. Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.
1:13. Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.
1:14. Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand, out of which I am not able to rise. 1:15. Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda.
1:16. Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water: because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed.
1:17. Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his enemies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.
1:18. Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity.
1:19. Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests and my ancients pined away in the city: while they sought their food, to relieve their souls.
1:20. Res. Behold, 0 Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of bitterness: abroad the sword destroyeth and at home there is death alike.
1:21. Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a day of consolation, and they shall be like unto me.
1:22. Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.
Lamentations Chapter 2
2:1. Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
2:2. Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.
2:3. Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about.
2:4. Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his indignation like fire.
2:5. He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down Israel headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath multiplied in the danghter of Juda the afflicted, both men and women.
2:6. Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach, and to the indignation of his wrath.
2:7. Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.
He hath cursed his sanctuary... That is, he permitted his sanctuary to be destroyed, as if it had not been consecrated, but execrable.
2:8. Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
2:9. Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
2:10. Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girdcd with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
2:11. Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
2:12. Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
2:13. Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?
2:14. Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
2:15. Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
2:16. Phe. All thy enemies have opened their month against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.
2:17. Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adversaries.
2:18. Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.
2:19. Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the watches: pour out thy heart like water, before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.
2:20. Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall women then eat their own fruit, their children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
2:21. Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.
2:22. Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and nourished, my enemy hath consumed them.
Lamentations Chapter 3
3:1. Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
3:2. Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3:3. Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
3:4. Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
3:5. Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and labour.
3:6. Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
3:7. Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
3:8. Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
3:9. Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down.
3:10. Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places.
3:11. Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate.
3:12. Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows.
3:13. He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
3:14. He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long.
3:15. He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.
3:16. Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ashes.
3:17. Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten good things.
3:18. Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
3:19. Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and the gall.
3:20. Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish within me.
3:21. Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will I hope.
3:22. Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because his commiserations have not failed.
3:23. Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
3:24. Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait for him.
3:25. Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.
3:26. Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
3:27. Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.
3:28. Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath taken it up upon himself.
3:29. Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
3:30. Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with reproaches.
3:31. Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
3:32. Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies.
3:33. Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men.
3:34. Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
3:35. Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High,
3:36. Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved.
3:37. Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?
3:38. Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest?
3:39. Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
3:40. Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
3:41. Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens.
3:42. Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable.
3:43. Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.
3:44. Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through.
3:45. Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people.
3:46. Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
3:47. Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction.
3:48. Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
3:49. Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there was no rest:
3:50. Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
3:51. Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
3:52. Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause.
3:53. Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.
3:54. Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
3:55. Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
3:56. Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.
3:57. Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou saidst: Fear not.
3:58. Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life.
3:59. Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge thou my judgment.
3:60. Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.
3:61. Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me.
3:62. Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices against me all the day.
3:63. Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their song.
3:64. Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
3:65. Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
3:66. Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them from under the heavens, O Lord.
Lamentations Chapter 4
4:1. Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?
4:2. Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the potter's hands?
4:3. Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.
4:4. Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them.
4:5. He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.
4:6. Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her.
4:7. Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.
4:8. Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood.
4:9. Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth.
4:10. Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
4:11. Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
4:12. Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.
4:13. Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.
4:14. Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they held up their skirts.
4:15. Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to them: Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and being removed, they said among the Gentiles: He will no more dwell among them.
4:16. Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had they pity on the ancient.
4:17. Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, when we looked attentively towards a nation that was not able to save.
4:18. Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.
4:19. Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
4:20. Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.
Christ, etc... This, according to the letter, is spoken of their king, who is called the Christ, that is, the Anointed of the Lord. But it also relates, in the spiritual sense, to Christ our Lord, suffering for our sins.
4:21. Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked.
4:22. Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he hath visited thy iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy sins.
THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE PROPHET
Lamentations Chapter 5
5:1. Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach.
5:2. Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.
5:3. We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.
5:4. We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.
5:6. We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given us.
5:6. We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread.
5:7. Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their iniquities.
5:8. Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand.
5:9. We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert.
5:10. Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine.
5:11. They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities of Juda.
5:12. The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect the persons of the ancients.
5:13. They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under the wood.
5:14. The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers.
5:15. The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning.
5:16. The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, because we have sinned.
5:17. Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become dim.
5:18. For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon it.
5:19. But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to generation.
5:20. Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a long time?
5:21. Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning.
5:22. But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry with us.
BARUCH was a man of noble extraction, and learned in the law, secretary and disciple to the prophet JEREMIAS, and a sharer in his labours and persecutions: which is the reason why the ancient fathers have considered this book as a part of the prophecy of JEREMIAS, and have usually quoted it under his name.
Baruch Chapter 1
The Jews of Babylon send the book of Baruch with money to Jerusalem, requesting their brethren there to offer sacrifice, and to pray for the king and for them, acknowledging their manifold sins.
1:1. And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Sedei, the son Helcias, wrote in Babylonia.
1:2. In the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.
1:3. And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and in the hearing of all the people that came to hear the book.
1:4. And in the hearing of the nobles, the sons of the kings, and in the hearing of the ancients, and in the hearing of the people, from the least even to the greatest of them that dwelt in Babylonia, by the river Sedi.
1:5. And when they heard it they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord.
1:6. And they made a collection of money according to every man's power.
1:7. And they sent it to Jerusalem to Joakim the priest, the son of Helcias, the son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people, that were found with him in Jerusalem:
1:8. At the time when he received the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which had been taken away out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda the tenth day of the month Sivan, the silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made,
1:9. After that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and all the powerful men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and brought them bound to Babylon.
1:10. And they said: Behold we have sent you money, buy with it holocausts, and frankincense, and make meat offerings, and offerings for sin at the altar of the Lord our God:
1:11. And pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven:
1:12. And that the Lord may give us strength, and enlighten our eyes, that we may live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and may serve them many days, and may find favour in their sight.
1:13. And pray ye for us to the Lord our God: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, and his wrath is not turned away from us even to this day.
1:14. And read ye this book, which we have sent to you to be read in the temple of the Lord, on feasts, and proper days.
1:15. And you shall say: To the Lord our God belongeth justice, but to us confusion of our face: as it is come to pass at this day to all Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
1:16. To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers.
1:17. We have sinned before the Lord our God, and have not believed him, nor put our trust in him:
1:18. And we were not obedient to him, and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his commandments which he hath given us.
1:19. From the day that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, we were disobedient to the Lord our God: and going astray we turned away from hearing his voice.
1:20. And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curses which the Lord foretold by Moses his servant: who brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.
1:21. And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us:
1:22. And we have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.
Baruch Chapter 2
A further confession of the sins of the people, and of the justice of God.
2:1. Wherefore the Lord our God hath made good his word, that he spoke to us, and to our judges that have judged Israel, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to all Israel and Juda:
2:2. That the Lord would bring upon us great evils, such as never happened under heaven, as they have come to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are written in the law of Moses:
2:3. That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter.
2:4. And he hath delivered them up to be under the hand of all the kings that are round about us, to be a reproach, and desolation among all the people, among whom the Lord hath scattered us.
2:5. And we are brought under, and are not uppermost: because we have sinned against the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice.
2:6. To the Lord our God belongeth justice: but to us, and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day.
2:7. For the Lord hath pronounced against us all these evils that are come upon us:
2:8. And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, that we might return every one of us from our most wicked ways.
2:9. And the Lord hath watched over us for evil, and hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is just in all his works which he hath commanded us:
2:10. And we have not hearkened to his voice to walk in the commandments of the Lord which he hath set before us.
2:11. And now, O Lord God of Israel, who hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with thy great power, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a name as at this day,
2:12. We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all thy justices.
2:13. Let thy wrath be turned away from us: for we are left a few among the nations where thou hast scattered us.
2:14. Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our petitions, and deliver us for thy own sake: and grant that we may find favour in the sight of them that have led us away:
2:15. That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, and that thy name is called upon Israel, and upon his posterity.
2:16. Look down upon us, O Lord, from thy holy house, and incline thy ear, and hear us.
2:17. Open thy eyes, and behold: for the dead that are in hell, whose spirit is taken away from their bowels, shall not give glory and justice to the Lord:
Justice, etc... They that are in hell shall not give justice to God; that is, they shall not acknowledge and glorify his justice as penitent sinners do upon earth.
2:18. But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil she hath done, and goeth bowed down, and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul giveth glory and justice to thee the Lord.
2:19. For it is not for the justices of our fathers that we pour out our prayers, and beg mercy in thy sight, O Lord our God:
2:20. But because thou hast sent out thy wrath, and thy indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying:
2:21. Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoulder, and your neck, and serve the king of Babylon: and you shall remain in the land which I have given to your fathers.
2:22. But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon: I will cause you to depart out of the cities of Juda, and from without Jerusalem.
2:23. And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and all the land shall be without any footstep of inhabitants.
2:24. And they hearkened not to thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spokest by the hands of thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be removed out of their place:
2:25. And behold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine, and by the sword, and in banishment.
2:26. And thou hast made the temple, in which thy name was called upon, as it is at this day, for the iniquity of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda.
2:27. And thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, according to all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine:
2:28. As thou spokest by the hand of thy servant Moses, in the day when thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel,
2:29. Saying: If you will not hear my voice, this great multitude shall be turned into a very small number among the nations, where I will scatter them:
2:30. For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity:
2:31. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear.
2:32. And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall be mindful of my name.
2:33. And they shall turn away themselves from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, that sinned against me.
2:34. And I will bring them back again into the land which I promised with an oath to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be masters thereof: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished.
2:35. And I will make with them another covenant that shall be everlasting, to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will no more remove my people, the children of Israel, out of the land that I have given them.
Baruch Chapter 3
They pray for mercy, acknowledging that they are justly punished for forsaking true wisdom. A prophecy of Christ.
3:1. And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee:
3:2. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee.
3:3. For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly?
3:4. 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.
3:5. Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time:
3:6. For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:
3:7. 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.
3:8. 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.
3:9. Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom.
3:10. How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies' land?
3:11. Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell.
3:12. Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom:
3:13. For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever.
3:14. 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.
3:15. Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures?
3:16. Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?
3:17. That take their diversion with the birds of the air.
3:18. 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.
3:19. They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place.
3:20. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known,
3:21. Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face.
3:22. It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.
Theman... The capital city of Edom.
3:23. 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.
Agar... The mother of the Ismaelites.
3:24. O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!
3:25. It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.
3:26. There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.
3:27. The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.
3:28. And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.
3:29. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?
3:30. Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?
3:31. There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths:
3:32. 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:
3:33. He that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.
3:34. And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:
3:35. They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them.
3:36. This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.
3:37. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.
3:38. Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.
Was seen upon earth, etc... viz., by the mystery of the incarnation, by means of which the son of God came visibly amongst us, and conversed with men. The prophets often speak of things to come as if they were past, to express the certainty of the event of the things foretold.
Baruch Chapter 4
The prophet exhorts to the keeping of the law of wisdom, and encourages the people to be patient, and to hope for their deliverance.
4:1. 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.
4:2. Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof.
4:3. Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation.
4:4. We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God, are made known to us.
4:5. Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel:
4:6. You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked God to wrath, you are delivered to your adversaries.
4:7. For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to God.
4:8. For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.
4:9. 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:
4:10. For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
4:11. For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning.
4:12. 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.
4:13. 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.
4:14. Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
4:15. For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked nation, and of a strange tongue:
4:16. 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.
4:17. But as for me, what help can I give you?
4:18. But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you out of the hands of your enemies.
4:19. Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone.
4:20. 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.
4:21. Be of good comfort, my children, cry to the Lord, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the princes your enemies.
4:22. 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.
4:23. For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.
4:24. 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.
4:25. 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.
4:26. My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away as a flock made a prey by the enemies.
4:27. Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by him that hath led you away.
4:28. For as it was your mind to go astray from God; so when you return again you shall seek him ten times as much.
4:29. For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.
4:30. Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee.
4:31. The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished.
4:32. The cities which thy children have served, shall be punished: and she that received thy sons.
She that received, etc... viz., Babylon.
4:33. For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation.
4:34. And the joy of her multitude shall be cut off: and her gladness shall be turned to mourning.
4:35. For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal, long to endure, and she shall be inhabited by devils for a great time.
4:36. Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God.
4:37. 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.
Baruch Chapter 5
Jerusalem is invited to rejoice and behold the return of her children out of their captivity.
5:1. Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning, and affliction: and put on the beauty, and honour of that everlasting glory which thou hast from God.
5:2. God will clothe thee with the double garment of justice, and will set a crown on thy head of everlasting honour.
5:3. For God will shew his brightness in thee, to every one under heaven.
5:4. For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ever: the peace of justice, and honour of piety.
5:5. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the east, and behold thy children gathered together from the rising to the setting sun, by the word of the Holy One rejoicing in the remembrance of God.
5:6. For they went out from thee on foot, led by the enemies: but the Lord will bring them to thee exalted with honour as children of the kingdom.
5:7. For God hath appointed to bring down every high mountain, and the everlasting rocks, and to fill up the valleys to make them even with the ground: that Israel may walk diligently to the honour of God.
5:8. Moreover the woods, and every sweetsmelling tree have overshadowed Israel by the commandment of God.
5:9. For God will bring Israel with joy in the light of his majesty, with mercy, and justice, that cometh from him.
Baruch Chapter 6
The epistle of Jeremias to the captives, as a preservative against idolatry.
A copy of the epistle that Jeremias sent to them that were to be led away captives into Babylon, by the king of Babylon, to declare to them according to what was commanded him by God.
6:1. For the sins that you have committed before God, you shall be carried away captives into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon.
6:2. And when you are come into Babylon, you shall be there many years, and for a long time, even to seven generations: and after that I will bring you away from thence with peace.
Seven generations... That is, seventy years.
6:3. But now, you shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and of stone, and of wood borne upon shoulders, causing fear to the Gentiles.
6:4. Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you.
6:5. But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them, say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord.
6:6. For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls.
6:7. For their tongue that is polished by the craftsman, and themselves laid over with gold and silver, are false things, and they cannot speak.
6:8. And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go gay: so do they take gold and make them up.
6:9. Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads: whereof the priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it on themselves.
6:10. Yea and they give thereof to prostitutes, and they dress out harlots: and again when they receive it of the harlots, they adorn their gods.
6:11. And these gods cannot defend themselves from the rust, and the moth.
6:12. But when they have covered them with a purple garment, they wipe their face because of the dust of the house, which is very much among them.
6:13. This holdeth a sceptre as a man, as a judge of the country, but cannot put to death one that offendeth him.
6:14. And this hath in his hand a sword, or an axe, but cannot save himself from war, or from robbers, whereby be it known to you, that they are not gods.
6:15. Therefore fear them not. For as a vessel that a man uses when it is broken becometh useless, even so are their gods:
6:16. When they are placed in the house, their eyes are full of dust by the feet of them that go in.
6:17. And as the gates are made sure on every side upon one that hath offended the king, or like a dead man carried to the grave, so do the priests secure the doors with bars and locks, lest they be stripped by thieves.
6:18. They light candles to them, and in great number, of which they cannot see one: but they are like beams in the house.
6:19. And they say that the creeping things which are of the earth, gnaw their hearts, while they eat them and their garments, and they feel it not.
6:20. Their faces are black with the smoke that is made in the house.
6:21. Owls, and swallows, and other birds fly upon their bodies, and upon their heads, and cats in like manner.
6:22. Whereby you may know that they are no gods. Therefore fear them not.
6:23. The gold also which they have, is for shew, but except a man wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten, did they feel it.
6:24. Men buy them at a high price, whereas there is no breath in them.