2 Baruch 77

1And I, Baruch, went from there and came to the people, and I gathered them from the great to the small. 2 And I said to them, “Hear, children of Israel. See how few of you are left from the twelve tribes of Israel. 3 Yet to you and to your fathers the Lord gave the law more than to all the nations. 4 And because your brothers transgressed the commandments of the Most High, he brought upon them what you have seen. 5 But you also, if you do not do what is right, as your brothers did, 6 the righteous one will judge his works, because he is the Mighty One whom you seek, and he is the Mighty One in whom you hope. 7 And he sees to preserve, not to forsake. 8 Have you not seen what happened to Zion? 9 Or do you think that the place sinned, and for this it was overthrown? Or that the land did some wrong, and for this it was handed over? 10 And do you not know that because of you those things that did not sin were destroyed, and because of what you did, that which did no wrong was delivered up? 11 And all the people answered and said to me, “Because we remember the good testimonies that the Mighty One did with you, 12 as we have seen, and also those that we have not seen, the Anointed One will come. 13 But now, ask on our behalf from above, and write also to our brothers in Babylon a letter of instruction and a writing of hope, 14 that you may show them also that which has not departed from you. 15 For the counsels of Israel have perished, and the lamps that gave light are extinguished, and the springs from which we used to drink have ceased. 16 And we are left in darkness, and in the thicket of the forest, and in the thirst of the wilderness.”