Baruch 2

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee:	1 "And the LORD fulfilled the warning he had uttered against us: against our judges, who governed Israel, against our kings and princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah.
2 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee.	2 He brought down upon us evils so great that there has not been done anywhere under heaven what has been done in Jerusalem, as was written in the law of Moses:
3 For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly?	3 that one after another of us should eat the flesh of his son or of his daughter.
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.	4 He has made us subject to all the kingdoms round about us, a reproach and a horror among all the nations round about to which the LORD has scattered us.
5 Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time:	5 We are brought low, not raised up, because we sinned against the LORD, our God, not heeding his voice.
6 For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:	6 "Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we, like our fathers, are flushed with shame even today.
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.	7 All the evils of which the LORD had warned us have come upon us:
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.	8 and we did not plead before the LORD, or turn, each from the figments of his evil heart.
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom.	9 And the LORD kept watch over the evils, and brought them home to us; for the LORD is just in all the works he commanded us to do,
10 How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies' land?	10 but we did not heed his voice, or follow the precepts of the LORD which he set before us.
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.	11 "And now, LORD, God of Israel, you who led your people out of the land of Egypt with your mighty hand, with signs and wonders and great might, and with your upraised arm, so that you have made for yourself a name till the present day:
12 Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom :	12 we have sinned, been impious, and violated, O LORD, our God, all your statutes.
13 For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever.	13 Let your anger be withdrawn from us, for we are left few in number among the nations to which you scattered us.
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.	14 Hear, O LORD, our prayer of supplication, and deliver us for your own sake: grant us favor in the presence of our captors,
15 Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures?	15 that the whole earth may know that you are the LORD, our God, and that Israel and his descendants bear your name.
16 Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?	16 O LORD, look down from your holy dwelling and take thought of us; turn, O LORD, your ear to hear us.
17 That take their diversion with the birds of the air.	17 Look directly at us, and behold: it is not the dead in the nether world, whose spirits have been taken from within them, who will give glory and vindication to the LORD.
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.	18 He whose soul is deeply grieved, who walks bowed and feeble, with failing eyes and famished soul, will declare your glory and justice, LORD!
19 They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place.	19 "Not on the just deeds of our fathers and our kings do we base our plea for mercy in your sight, O LORD, our God.
20 Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known,	20 You have brought your wrath and anger down upon us, as you had warned us through your servants the prophets:
21 Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face.	21 'Thus says the LORD: Bend your shoulders to the service of the king of Babylon, that you may continue in the land I gave your fathers:
22 It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.	22 for if you do not hear the LORD'S voice so as to serve the king of Babylon,
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.	23 I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem The sounds of joy and the sounds of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; And all the land shall be deserted, without inhabitants.'
24 O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!	24 But we did not heed your voice, or serve the king of Babylon, and you fulfilled the threats you had made through your servants the prophets, to have the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers brought out from their burial places.
25 It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.	25 And indeed, they lie exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night. They died in dire anguish, by hunger and the sword and plague.
26 There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.	26 And you reduced the house which bears your name to what it is today, for the wickedness of the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.
27 The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.	27 "But with us, O Lord, our God, you have dealt in all your clemency and in all your great mercy.
28 And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.	28 This was your warning through your servant Moses, the day you ordered him to write down your law in the presence of the Israelites:
29 Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?	29 If you do not heed my voice, surely this great and numerous throng will dwindle away among the nations to which I will scatter them.
30 Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?	30 For I know they will not heed me, because they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their captivity they shall have a change of heart;
31 There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths :	31 they shall know that I, the LORD, am their God. I will give them hearts, and heedful ears;
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:	32 and they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall invoke my name.
33 He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.	33 Then they shall turn back from their stiff-necked stubbornness, and from their evil deeds, because they shall remember the fate of their fathers who sinned against the LORD.
34 And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:	34 And I will bring them back to the land which with my oath I promised to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and they shall rule it. I will make them increase; they shall not then diminish.
35 They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfuIness they have shined forth to him that made them.	35 And I will establish for them, as an eternal covenant, that I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and I will not again remove my people Israel from the land I gave 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.