The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Baruch 02
1 Therefore the Lord has made good his
word which he pronounced against us,
and against our judges who judged Israel,
and against our kings, and against our
princes, and against the men of Israel and
Judah,
2 to bring upon us great plagues such as
never happened before under the whole
heaven,† as it came to pass in Jerusalem,
according to the things that are written in
the law of Moses,
3 that we should each eat the flesh of our
own son, and each eat the flesh of our own
daughter.
4 Moreover he has given them to be in
subjection to all the kingdoms that are
around us, to be a reproach and a desolation
among all the people around us,
where the Lord has scattered them.
5 Thus they were cast down and not exalted,
because we sinned against the Lord
our God in not listening to his voice.
6 To the Lord our God belongs righteousness,
butto us and to our fathers confusion
of face, as at this day.
7 All these plagues have come upon us
which the Lord has pronounce dagainstus.
8 Yet have we not entreated the favor
of the Lord by everyone turning from the
thoughts of his wicked heart.
9 Therefore the Lord has kept watch over
the plagues. The Lord has brought them
upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his
works which he has commanded us.
10 Yet we have not listened to his voice,
to walk in the commandments of the Lord
that he has set before us.
11 And now, O Lord, you God of Israel
who have brought your people out of the
land of Egypt with a mighty hand, with
signs, with wonders, with great power,
and withahigharm, andhave gotten your self
a name, as at this day:
12 O Lord our God, we have sinned. We
have been ungodly. We have done wrong
in all your ordinances.
13 Let your wrath turn from us, for we
are but a few left among the heathen
where you have scattered us.
14 Hear our prayer, O Lord, and our petition,
and deliver us for your own sake.
Giveus favor inthe sight ofthose whohave
led us away captive,
15 that all the earth may know that you
are the Lord our God, because Israel and
his posterity is called by your name.
16 O Lord, look down from your holy
house and consider us. Incline your ear, O
Lord, and hear.
17 Open your eyes, and see; for the dead
that are in Hades, whose breath is taken
from their bodies, will give to the Lord
neither glory nor righteousness;
18 but the soul who is greatly vexed, who
goes stooping and feeble, and the eyes that
fail, and the hungry soul, will declare your
glory and righteousness, O Lord.
19 For we do not present our supplication
before you, O Lord our God, for the righteousness
of our fathers and of our kings.
20 For youhave sent your wrathandyour
indignation upon us, as you have spoken
by your servants the prophets, saying,
21 “The Lord says, ‘Bow your shoulders to
serve the king of Babylon, and remain in
the land that I gave to your fathers.
22 But if you won’t hear the voice of the
Lord to serve the king of Babylon,
23 I will cause to cease out of the cities of
Judah and from the region near Jerusalem
the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness,
voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of
the bride. The whole land will be desolate
without inhabitant.
24 But we wouldn’t listen to your voice,
to serve the king of Babylon. Therefore
you have made good your words that you
spoke by your servants the prophets, that
the bones of our kings and the bones of our
fathers would be taken out of their places.
25 Behold, they are cast out to the heat
by day and to the frost by night. They died in
great miseries by famine, by sword, and
by‡ pestilence.
26 You have made the house that is called
by your name as it is today because of the
wickedness of the house of Israel and the
house of Judah.
27 Yet, O Lord our God, you have dealt
with us after all your kindness and
according to all your great mercy,
28 as you spoke by your servant Moses
in the day when you commanded him to
write your law in the presence of the
children of Israel, saying,
29 “If you won’t hear my voice, surely this
very great multitude will be turned into a
small number among the nations where I
will scatter them.
30 For I know that they will not hear me,
because they are a stiff-necked people; but
in the land of their captivity they will take
it to heart,
31 and will know that I am the Lord their
God. I will give them a heart and ears to
hear.
32 Then they will praise me in the land of
their captivity, and think about my name,
33 and will return from their stiff neck
and from their wicked deeds; for they will
remember the way of their fathers who
sinned before the Lord.
34 I will bring them again into the land
which I promised to their fathers, to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, and they will
rule over it. I will increase them, and they
won’t be diminished.
35 And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them to be their God, and
they will be my people. I will no more
remove my people Israel out of the land
that I have given them.