Baruch 3

DOUAI-RHEIMS	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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.	1 “ ‘And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the troubled spirit cry out to you.
2 Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof.	2 Listen, O Lord, and be merciful, for you are a merciful God, and so be merciful to us, for we have sinned before you.
3 Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation.	3 For you are enthroned in eternity, but we will pass away in time.
4 We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God, are made known to us.	4 O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, listen now to the prayer of the dead of Israel and of their sons, who have sinned before you and have not listened to the voice of the Lord their God, and have joined themselves to evil.
5 Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel:	5 Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but remember your hand and your name at this time.
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.	6 For you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you, O Lord.
7 For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to God.	7 And for this reason, you have imparted your fear into our hearts, and also, so that we may call upon your name and may praise you in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before you.
8 For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.	8 And, behold, we are still in our captivity on this day, where you have scattered us into disgrace, and into slander, and into sin, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who withdrew from you, O Lord our God.
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:	9 Listen, O Israel, to the commandments of life! Pay attention, so that you may learn prudence!
10 For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.	10 How is it, O Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies,
11 For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning.	11 that you have grown old in a foreign land, that you are defiled with the dead, that you are regarded as among those who are descending into hell?
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.	12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
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.	13 For if you had walked in the way of God, you would certainly have lived in everlasting peace.
14 Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.	14 Learn where prudence is, where virtue is, where understanding is, so that you may know at the same time where long life and prosperity are, where the light of the eyes and peace are.
15 For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked nation, and of a strange tongue:	15 Who has discovered its place? And who has entered its treasure chamber?
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.	16 Where are the leaders of the peoples, and those who rule over the beasts that are upon the earth,
17 But as for me, what help can I give you?	17 who play among the birds of the air,
18 But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you out of the hands of your enemies.	18 who store up treasures of silver and gold, in which men trust, and with whom there is no end to their acquiring, who work with silver and are anxious about it, and whose works are inexplicable?
19 Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone.	19 They have been banished and have descended to hell, and others are risen up in their place.
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.	20 The youth have seen the light and have dwelt upon the earth, yet they are ignorant of the way of instruction.
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.	21 They have neither understood the paths of it, nor have their sons accepted it. It is far from their face.
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.	22 It has not been heard of in the land of Canaan, nor has it been seen in Teman.
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.	23 It is likewise with the sons of Hagar, who search for the practicality that is of the earth, the negotiators of Merran and Teman, and the storytellers, and the searchers of discretion and intelligence. Yet the way of wisdom they have not known, nor have they called to mind its paths.
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.	24 O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!
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.	25 It is great and has no end! It is exalted and immense!
26 My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away as a flock made a prey by the enemies.	26 There were those who were called giants, who existed from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.
27 Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by him that hath led you away.	27 The Lord did not choose them, nor did they discover the way of instruction; for this reason they perished,
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.	28 and, because they did not have wisdom, they passed away as a result of their foolishness.
29 For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.	29 Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?
30 Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee.	30 Who has crossed the sea, and found her, and brought her, chosen instead of gold?
31 The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished.	31 There is no one who is able to know her ways, nor any who can search out her paths.
32 The cities which thy children have served, shall be punished: and she that received thy sons.	32 Yet he who knows the universe is familiar with her, and in his foresight he invented her, he who prepared the earth for time without end, and filled it with cattle and four-footed beasts,
33 For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation.	33 who sends out the light, and it goes, and who summoned it, and it obeyed him in fear.
34 And the joy of her multitude shall be cut off: and her gladness shall be turned to mourning.	34 Yet the stars have given light from their posts, and they rejoiced.
35 For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal, long to endure, and she shall be inhabited by devils for a great time.	35 They were called, and so they said, “Here we are,” and they shined with cheerfulness to him who made them.
36 Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God.	36 This is our God, and no other can compare to him.
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.	37 He invented the way of all instruction, and delivered it to Jacob his child, and to Israel his beloved.
	38 After this, he was seen on earth, and he conversed with men.