Baruch 2

1And the Lord has confirmed his word that he spoke against us and against our judges who judged Israel, and against our kings and against our rulers, and against the people of Israel and Judah.

2it had not been done under all heaven as he did in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the law of Moses,

3for a man to eat the flesh of his son, and a man the flesh of his daughter.

4And he gave them over as subjects to all the kingdoms around us, for reproach and desolation among all the peoples around whom the Lord scattered them there.

5and they became beneath and not above, because we sinned against the Lord our God by not listening to his voice.

6To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us and to our fathers belongs shame of face, as it is this day.

7which the Lord spoke against us—all these evils that came upon us.

8And we did not entreat the favor of the Lord, that each one might turn from the thoughts of their evil heart.

9And the Lord kept watch over the calamities and brought them upon us, because the Lord is righteous in all his works that he commanded us.

10And we did not listen to his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he set before us.

11And now, O Lord, God of Israel, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, with signs and wonders and with great power and with an uplifted arm, and made for yourself a name, as at this day,

12We have sinned, we have acted ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God, against all your ordinances.

13Let your wrath turn away from us, because we have been left few among the nations where you scattered us there.

14Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our plea, and deliver us for your own sake, and grant us favor before those who carried us away captive,

15so that all the earth may know that you, Lord, are our God, because your name has been called upon Israel and upon his offspring.

16Lord, look down from your holy house and take notice of us; incline your ear, Lord, and hear.

17Open your eyes and see: it is not the dead in Hades, whose breath has been taken from their inward parts, who will give glory and righteousness to the Lord;

18But the soul that is grieved over its great misery, that goes about bent over and weak, and the eyes that are failing and the soul that is hungry—these will give you glory and righteousness, O Lord.

19for it is not on the basis of the righteous deeds of our fathers and of our kings that we lay our plea for mercy before you, O Lord our God,

20because you have brought your wrath and your anger upon us, just as you spoke by the hand of your servants the prophets

21Thus says the Lord: Bow your shoulder and serve the king of Babylon, and dwell on the land that I gave to your fathers.

22And if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon,

23I will cause the sound of gladness and the sound of rejoicing to cease from the cities of Judah and from the outskirts of Jerusalem, the sound of bridegroom and the sound of bride, and all the land will become impassable because of its inhabitants.

24And we did not listen to your voice to serve the king of Babylon, and you have fulfilled your words that you spoke by the hands of your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be brought out from their place.

25And behold, they have been exposed to the heat of the day and to the frost of the night; and they died in grievous sufferings, in famine and by the sword and in exile.

26And you made the house over which your name was called as it is this day, because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

27And you have dealt with us, Lord our God, according to all your forbearance and according to all your great compassion,

28just as you spoke by the hand of your servant Moses, on the day when you commanded him to write your law before the sons of Israel, saying,

29If you do not listen to my voice, surely this great and vast multitude will be reduced to a few among the nations where I will scatter them there.

30For I knew that they would certainly not listen to me, because they are a stiff-necked people; but in the land of their exile they will return to their heart,

31And they will know that I am the Lord their God. And I will give them a heart and ears that hear,

32and they will praise me in the land of their exile, and they will remember my name;

33And they will turn away from their stiff neck and from their evil deeds, because they will remember the way of their fathers who sinned before the Lord.

34and I will bring them back to the land that I swore to their fathers—to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob—and they will rule over it; and I will multiply them, and they will certainly not be diminished.

35And I will establish for them an everlasting covenant, that I may be their God and they may be my people; and I will no longer remove my people Israel from the land that I gave to them.