Baruch 2

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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.	1 “ ‘For this reason, the Lord our God has fulfilled his word, which he has spoken to us, and to our judges, who have judged Israel, and to our kings, and to our leaders, and to all Israel and Judah.
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:	2 And so the Lord has brought upon us great evils, such as never before happened under heaven, (but which have come to pass in Jerusalem according to what was written in the law of Moses)
3 that one after another of us should eat the flesh of his son or of his daughter.	3 even that a man would eat the flesh of his son and the flesh of his daughter.
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.	4 And so he placed them under the hand of all the kings who surround us, in disgrace and desolation among all the people where the Lord has scattered us.
5 We are brought low, not raised up, because we sinned against the LORD, our God, not heeding his voice.	5 And we were brought down low and were not raised up, because we sinned against the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice.
6 "Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we, like our fathers, are flushed with shame even today.	6 To the Lord our God is justice, but to us and to our fathers is confusion of face, just as on this day.
7 All the evils of which the LORD had warned us have come upon us:	7 For the Lord has pronounced against us all these evils, which have overcome us.
8 and we did not plead before the LORD, or turn, each from the figments of his evil heart.	8 And we have not beseeched the face of the Lord our God, so that we might return, each one of us from our most sinful ways.
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,	9 And the Lord has watched over us for evil and has brought it upon us, because the Lord is just in all his works that he has commanded us,
10 but we did not heed his voice, or follow the precepts of the LORD which he set before us.	10 and we have not listened to his own voice, so as to walk according to the teachings of the Lord, which he has set before our face.
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:	11 And now, O Lord God of Israel, who has led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with your great power, and with an exalted arm, and has made a name for yourself, just as on this day,
12 we have sinned, been impious, and violated, O LORD, our God, all your statutes.	12 we have sinned, we become impious, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all your principles.
13 Let your anger be withdrawn from us, for we are left few in number among the nations to which you scattered us.	13 May your wrath be turned away from us because, having been forsaken, we are few among the irreligious where you have scattered us.
14 Hear, O LORD, our prayer of supplication, and deliver us for your own sake: grant us favor in the presence of our captors,	14 Heed, O Lord, our petitions and our prayers, and deliver us for your own sake, and grant that we may find favor before the face of those who have led us away,
15 that the whole earth may know that you are the LORD, our God, and that Israel and his descendants bear your name.	15 so that all the earth may know that you are the Lord our God, and because your name has been invoked over Israel and over his posterity.
16 O LORD, look down from your holy dwelling and take thought of us; turn, O LORD, your ear to hear us.	16 Gaze upon us, O Lord, from your holy home, and incline your ear, and heed us.
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.	17 Open your eyes and see, because the dead, who are in the underworld, whose spirit has been taken away from their vital organs, will not give honor and justification to the Lord.
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!	18 But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil, approaches bowed down and weak, and the failing eyes and the hungering soul give glory and justice to you, the Lord.
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.	19 For it is not according to the righteousness of our fathers that we pour out our petitions and beg mercy in your sight, O Lord our God,
20 You have brought your wrath and anger down upon us, as you had warned us through your servants the prophets:	20 but because you have sent your wrath and your fury upon us, just as you have spoken by the hand of your children the prophets, saying:
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:	21 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Bow down your shoulder and your neck, and do work for the king of Babylon, and settle in the land which I gave to your fathers,
22 for if you do not hear the LORD'S voice so as to serve the king of Babylon,	22 because, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon, I will cause you to depart from the cities of Judah and from the gates of Jerusalem.
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.'	23 And I will take away from you the voice of cheerfulness and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and all the land will be without any trace of its inhabitants.’ ”
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.	24 And they did not listen to your voice, that they should serve the king of Babylon, and so you have fulfilled your words, which you spoke by the hands of your children the prophets, so that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be carried away from their place.
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.	25 And, behold, they have been cast out into the heat of the sun and the frost of the night, and they have died by means of grievous evils, by famine, and by the sword, and by banishment.
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.	26 And you have set up the temple, in which your name itself was called upon, just as it is on this day, because of the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
27 "But with us, O Lord, our God, you have dealt in all your clemency and in all your great mercy.	27 And you have accomplished in us, O Lord our God, according to all your goodness and according to all your great mercy,
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:	28 just as you spoke by the hand of your child Moses, in the day when you commanded him to write your law before the sons of Israel,
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.	29 saying: “If you will not listen to my voice, this great multitude will be changed into the least among the peoples, where I will scatter them.
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;	30 For I know that the people will not listen to me, for the people are stiff necked. But they will have a change of their heart in the land of their captivity,
31 they shall know that I, the LORD, am their God. I will give them hearts, and heedful ears;	31 and they will know that I am the Lord their God. And I will give them a heart, and they will understand, ears, and they will hear.
32 and they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall invoke my name.	32 And they will praise me in the land of their captivity, and will remember my name.
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.	33 And they will turn themselves away from their stiff back, and from their wicked deeds, for they will call to mind the way of their fathers, who sinned against me.
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.	34 And I will restore them to the land which I pledged to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it, and I will multiply them, and they will not be diminished.
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.	35 And I will establish for them a new and everlasting covenant, so that I will be their God and they will be my people. And I will no longer move my people, the sons of Israel, out of the land which I have given them.”