Baruch 3

1Lord Almighty, God of Israel, a soul in distress and a discouraged spirit has cried out to you.

2Hear, Lord, and have mercy, because we have sinned against you;

3for you remain seated forever, and we are perishing forever.

4Lord Almighty, God of Israel, please hear the prayer of the dead of Israel and of the sons who sinned before you, who did not listen to the voice of you, their God, and the evils have clung to us.

5Do not remember the unrighteous acts of our fathers, but remember your hand and your name at this time.

6For you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you, O Lord.

7For because of this you have put your fear in our hearts, that we may call on your name; and we will praise you in our exile, because we have turned away from our hearts every unrighteousness of our fathers who sinned before you.

8Behold, today we are in our exile, where you scattered us, for reproach and for a curse and for payment, according to all the wrongdoings of our fathers, who turned away from the Lord our God.

9Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life; give ear to know prudence.

10What is it, Israel? Why is it that you are in the land of enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land; you have become defiled with the dead,

11you were counted among those in Hades,

12You abandoned the fountain of wisdom.

13If you had walked in the way of God, you would have lived in peace forever.

14Learn where prudence is, where strength is, where understanding is, so that you may know at the same time where length of days and life are, where light for the eyes and peace are.

15Who found her place, and who entered into her treasuries?

16Where are the rulers of the nations, and those who rule over the beasts on the earth?

17those who make sport with the birds of the sky, and who store up silver and gold, in which people trusted, and there is no end to their possessions.

18because those who work in silver and are concerned, and there is no finding out their works.

19They vanished and went down to Hades, and others rose up in their place.

20The younger men saw the light and lived on the earth, but they did not know the way of knowledge.

21Nor did they understand its paths, nor did they take hold of it; their sons became far from their way,

22nor was it heard in Canaan, nor was it seen in Teman;

23And the sons of Hagar also, who seek understanding on the earth—the merchants of Merran and Teman, and the myth-makers and seekers of understanding—did not know the way of wisdom, nor did they remember her paths.

24O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession;

25Great and without end, lofty and immeasurable.

26There the giants were born, those renowned from the beginning, great in size, skilled in war.

27God did not choose these, nor did he give them the way of knowledge.

28And they perished for lack of understanding; they perished because of their own lack of counsel.

29Who has gone up into heaven and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

30Who has crossed beyond the sea and found her, and will bring her for choice gold?

31There is no one who knows her way, nor one who considers her path.

32But he who knows all things knows her; he found her out by his understanding. He who prepared the earth for everlasting time filled it with four-footed animals;

33He sends out the light, and it goes; he called it, and it obeyed him with trembling.

34And the stars shone in their watches and rejoiced;

35He called them, and they said, ‘Here we are’; they shone with gladness for the one who made them.

36This is our God; no other will be reckoned beside him.

37He found every way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved.

38After this he appeared on the earth, and lived among men.