BARUCH

CHAPTER I

ND these are the wordes of the booke, which Baruch the sonne of Nerias, the sonne of Maasias, the sonne of Sedecias, the sonne of Asadias, the son of Chelcias, wrote in Babylon, in the fift yere, and in the seventh day of the moneth, what time as the Caldeans tooke Ierusalem, and burnt it with fire. And Baruch did reade the words of this booke, in the hearing of Iechonias, the sonne of Ioachim king of Iuda, and in the eares of all the people, that came to [heare] the booke. And in the hearing of the nobles, and of the kings sonnes, and in the hearing of the Elders, and of all the people from the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon, by the river Sud. Whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord. They made also a collection of money, according to every mans power. And they sent it to Ierusalem unto loachim the hie Priest the sonne of Chelcias, sonne of Salom, and to the Priestes, and to all the people which were found with him at Ierusalem, at the same time, when he received the vessels of the house of the Lord that were caried out of the Temple, to returne them into the land of Iuda the tenth day of the moneth Sivan, [namely] silver vessels, which Sedecias the sonne of Iosias king of Iuda had made, after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had caried away Iechonias, and the Princes, and the captives, and the mightie men, and the people of the land from Ierusalem, and brought them unto Babylon: and they said, Behold, we have sent you money, to buy you burnt offerings, and sinne offerings, and incense, and prepare yee Manna, and offer upon the Altar of the Lord our God, and pray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his sonne, that their dayes may be upon earth as the dayes of heaven. And the Lord wil give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we shall live under the shadow of Nabuchodo

nosor king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his sonne, and wee shall serve them many dayes, and finde favour in their sight. Pray for us also unto the Lord our God, (for wee have sinned against the Lord our God, and unto this day the fury of the Lord, and his wrath is not turned from us) And yee shall reade this booke, which we have sent unto you, to make confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and solemne dayes. And yee shall say, To the Lord our God belongeth righteousnesse, but unto us the confusion of faces, as it is come to passe this day unto them of Iuda, and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to our Priests, and to our Prophets, and to our fathers. For wee have sinned before the Lord, and disobeyed him, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, to walke in the commaundements that he gave us openly: since the day that the Lorde brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, unto this present day, wee have beene disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we have beene negligent in not hearing his voice. Wherefore the evils cleaved unto us, and the curse which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant, at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milke and honie, like as it is to see this day. Neverthelesse we have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, according unto all the wordes of the Prophets, whom he sent unto us. But every man followed the imagination of his owne wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to doe evill in the sight of the Lord our God.

CHAPTER
I

T

CHAPTER II

which the

booke unto

THEREFORE the Lord hath made good his worde, which hee The prayer and pronounced against us, and against our ludges that iudged confession İsrael, and against our kings, and against our princes, and lewes at Babyagainst the men of Israel and Iuda, to bring upon us great plagues, lon made, and such as never happened under the whole heaven, as it came to sent in that passe in Ierusalem, according to the things that were written in the brethren the Law of Moses, that a man should eat the flesh of his owne in Ierusalem. sonne, and the flesh of his owne daughter. Moreover, he hath delivered them to be in subiection to all the kingdomes that are round about us, to be as a reproch and desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them. Thus wee were cast downe and not exalted, because wee have sinned against the Lord our God, and have not beene obedient unto his voice. To the Lord our God appertaineth righteousnesse: but 5: HH

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CHAPTER
II

unto us and to our fathers open shame, as appeareth this day. For all these plagues are come upon us, which the Lord hath pronounced against us, yet have we not prayed before the Lord, that we might turne every one from the imaginations of his wicked heart. Wherefore the Lord watched over us for evill, and the Lord hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is righteous in all his works, which he hath commanded us. Yet we have not hearkened unto his voice, to walk in the commandements of the Lord, that he hath set before us. And now O Lord God of Israel, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and high arme, and with signes and with wonders, and with great power, and hast gotten thy selfe a name, as appeareth this day: O Lord our God, we have sinned, we have done ungodly, wee have dealt unrighteously in all thine ordinances. Let thy wrath turne from us for we are but a few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us. Heare our prayers, O Lord, and our petitions, and deliver us for thine owne sake, and give us favour in the sight of them which have led us away: that all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, because Israel and his posterity is called by thy name. O Lord looke downe from thy holy house, and consider us: bow downe thine eare, O Lord, to heare us. Open thine eyes and behold: for the dead that are in the graves, whose soules are taken from their bodies, wil give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousnesse. But the soule that is greatly vexed, which goeth stouping and feeble, and the eyes that faile, and the hungry soule wil give thee praise and righteousnes O Lord. Therfore wee doe not make our humble supplication before thee, O Lord our God, for the righteousnes of our fathers, and of our kings. For thou hast sent out thy wrath and indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by thy servants the prophets, saying, Thus saith the Lord, bow down your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon: so shall ye remaine in the lande that I gave unto your fathers. But if ye will not heare the voice of the Lord to serve the king of Babylon, I will cause to cease out of the cities of Iuda, and from without Ierusalem the voice of mirth, and the voice of ioy the voice of the bridegrome, and the voice of the bride, and the whole land shall be desolate of inhabitants. But we would not hearken unto thy voyce, to serve the king of Babylon: therefore hast thou made good the wordes that thou spakest by thy servants the prophets, namely that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be taken out of their places. And loe, they are cast out to the heat of the day, and to the frost of the night, and they died in great miseries, by famine, by sword,

and by pestilence.
And the house which is called by thy name
(hast thou laid waste) as it is to be seene this day, for the wicked-
nesse of the house of Israel, and the house of Iuda. O Lord our
God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy goodnesse, and according
to all that great mercie of thine. As thou spakest by thy servant
Moses in the day when thou didst command him to write thy Law,
before the children of Israel, saying, If ye will not heare my voyce,
surely this very great multitude shalbe turned into a smal [number]
among the nations, where I will scatter them. For I knew that
they would not heare me: because it is a stiffenecked people: but
in the land of their captivities, they shall remember themselves,
and shall know that I am the Lord their God: For I give them
an heart, and eares to heare. And they shal praise me in the land
of their captivitie, and thinke upon my name, and returne from
their stiffe neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shal
remember the way of their fathers which sinned before the Lord.
And I will bring them againe into the land which I promised with
an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and they
shall bee lords of it, and I will increase them, and they shall not
be diminished. And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will
no more drive my people of Israel out of the land that I have
given them.

us.

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER
II

and confession

writ and sent to Hierusalem.

LORD almighty, God of Israel, the soule in anguish, the troubled spirit crieth unto thee. Heare O Lord, and have mercy for thou art mercifull, and have pitty upon us, because we have sinned before thee. For thou endurest for ever, The rest of and we perish utterly. O Lord almighty, thou God of Israel, their prayer! heare now the prayers of the dead Israelites, and of their children, contained in which have sinned before thee, and not hearkened unto the voice that book, of thee their God: for the which cause these plagues cleave unto which Baruch Remember not the iniquities of our forefathers: but thinke upon thy power and thy name, now at this time. For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O Lord, will we praise. And for this cause thou hast put thy feare in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity: for we have called to minde all the iniquity of our forefathers that sinned before thee. Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproch and a curse, and to be subiect to payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers which departed from the Lord our God.

CHAPTER

III

Heare, Israel, the commandements of life,

Give eare to understand wisedome.

How happeneth it, Israel, that thou art in thine enemies land,
That thou art waxen old in a strange countrey,

That thou art defiled with the dead?

That thou art counted with them that goe downe into the grave?

Thou hast forsaken the fountaine of wisedome.

For if thou hadst walked in the way of God,

Thou shouldest have dwelled in peace for ever.

Learne where is wisedome, where is strength, where is under-
standing,

That thou mayest know also where is length of daies, and life,
Where is the light of the eyes and peace.

Who hath found out her place?

Or who hath come into her treasures?

Where are the princes of the heathen become,

And such as ruled the beasts upon the earth.

They that had their pastime with the foules of the aire,
And they that hoorded up silver

And gold wherein men trust,

And made no end of their getting?

For they that wrought in silver, and were so careful,

And whose workes are unsearchable,

They are vanished, and gone downe to the grave,

And others are come up in their steads.

Young men have seene light, and dwelt upon the earth:
But the way of knowledge have they not knowen,
Nor understood the pathes thereof,

Nor laid hold of it:

Their children were farre off from that way.

It hath not beene heard of in Chanaan :

Neither hath it beene seene in Theman.

The Agarenes that seek wisdome upon earth,

The marchants of Merran, and of Theman,

The authors of fables, and searchers out of understanding:

None of these have knowen the way of wisedome,

Or remember her pathes.

O Israel, how great is the house of God?

And how large is the place of his possession?

Great, and hath none end:

High, and unmeasurable.

There were the gyants, famous from the beginning,