# The Book of Baruch

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> The Book of Baruch
> 
> Bar 1
> And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of
> Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of
> Asadias, the son of Chelcias, wrote in Babylon,
> 
> 2
> In the fifth year, and in the seventh day of the month, what
> time as the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.
> 
> 3
> And Baruch did read the words of this book in the hearing of
> Jechonias the son of Joachim king of Juda, and in the ears of
> all the people that came to hear the book,
> 
> 4
> And in the hearing of the nobles, and of the king's sons, 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.
> 
> 5
> Whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord.
> 
> 6
> They made also a collection of money according to every man's
> power:
> 
> 7
> And they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest,
> the son of Chelcias, son of Salom, and to the priests, and to
> all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem,
> 
> 8
> At the same time when he received the vessels of the house of
> the Lord, that were carried out of the temple, to return them
> into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month Sivan, namely,
> silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Jada
> had made,
> 
> 9
> After that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away
> Jechonias, and the princes, and the captives, and the mighty
> men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought
> them unto Babylon.
> 
> 10
> And they said, Behold, we have sent you money to buy you
> burnt offerings, and sin offerings, and incense, and prepare ye
> manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God;
> 
> 11
> And pray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and
> for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon
> earth as the days of heaven:
> 
> 12
> And the Lord will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and
> we shall live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of
> Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and we shall
> serve them many days, and find favour in their sight.
> 
> 13
> Pray for us also unto the Lord our God, for we have sinned
> against the Lord our God; and unto this day the fury of the Lord
> and his wrath is not turned from us.
> 
> 14
> And ye shall read this book which we have sent unto you, to
> make confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and
> solemn days.
> 
> 15
> And ye shall say, To the Lord our God belongeth
> righteousness, but unto us the confusion of faces, as it is come
> to pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of
> Jerusalem,
> 
> 16
> And to our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and
> to our prophets, and to our fathers:
> 
> 17
> For we have sinned before the Lord,
> 
> 18
> And disobeyed him, and have not hearkened unto the voice of
> the Lord our God, to walk in the commandments that he gave us
> openly:
> 
> 19
> Since the day that the Lord brought our forefathers out of
> the land of Egypt, unto this present day, we have been
> disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in
> not hearing his voice.
> 
> 20
> 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 milk and honey, like as it is to see this day.
> 
> 21
> Nevertheless we have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord
> our God, according unto all the words of the prophets, whom he
> sent unto us:
> 
> 22
> But every man followed the imagination of his own wicked
> heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the
> Lord our God.
> 
> Bar 2
> Therefore the Lord hath made good his word, which he
> pronounced against us, and against our judges that judged
> Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and
> against the men of Israel and Juda,
> 
> 2
> To bring upon us great plagues, such as never happened under
> the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to
> the things that were written in the law of Moses;
> 
> 3
> That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh
> of his own daughter.
> 
> 4
> Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all
> the kingdoms that are round about us, to be as a reproach and
> desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath
> scattered them.
> 
> 5
> Thus we were cast down, and not exalted, because we have
> sinned against the Lord our God, and have not been obedient unto
> his voice.
> 
> 6
> To the Lord our God appertaineth righteousness: but unto us
> and to our fathers open shame, as appeareth this day.
> 
> 7
> For all these plagues are come upon us, which the Lord hath
> pronounced against us
> 
> 8
> Yet have we not prayed before the Lord, that we might turn
> every one from the imaginations of his wicked heart.
> 
> 9
> Wherefore the Lord watched over us for evil, and the Lord
> hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is righteous in all his
> works which he hath commanded us.
> 
> 10
> Yet we have not hearkened unto his voice, to walk in the
> commandments of the Lord, that he hath set before us.
> 
> 11
> And now, O Lord God of Israel, that hast brought thy people
> out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and high arm, and
> with signs, and with wonders, and with great power, and hast
> gotten thyself a name, as appeareth this day:
> 
> 12
> O Lord our God, we have sinned, we have done ungodly, we have
> dealt unrighteously in all thine ordinances.
> 
> 13
> Let thy wrath turn from us: for we are but a few left among
> the heathen, where thou hast scattered us.
> 
> 14
> Hear our prayers, O Lord, and our petitions, and deliver us
> for thine own sake, and give us favour in the sight of them
> which have led us away:
> 
> 15
> That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God,
> because Israel and his posterity is called by thy name.
> 
> 16
> O Lord, look down from thine holy house, and consider us: bow
> down thine ear, O Lord, to hear us.
> 
> 17
> Open thine eyes, and behold; for the dead that are in the
> graves, whose souls are taken from their bodies, will give unto
> the Lord neither praise nor righteousness:
> 
> 18
> But the soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and
> feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will give
> thee praise and righteousness, O Lord.
> 
> 19
> Therefore we do not make our humble supplication before thee,
> O Lord our God, for the righteousness of our fathers, and of our
> kings.
> 
> 20
> For thou hast sent out thy wrath and indignation upon us, as
> thou hast spoken by thy servants the prophets, saying,
> 
> 21
> Thus saith the Lord, Bow down your shoulders to serve the
> king of Babylon: so shall ye remain in the land that I gave unto
> your fathers.
> 
> 22
> But if ye will not hear the voice of the Lord, to serve the
> king of Babylon,
> 
> 23
> I will cause to cease out of the cites of Judah, and from
> without Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, the
> voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: and the
> whole land shall be desolate of inhabitants.
> 
> 24
> But we would not hearken unto thy voice, to serve the king of
> Babylon: therefore hast thou made good the words 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 place.
> 
> 25
> And, lo, 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.
> 
> 26
> And the house which is called by thy name hast thou laid
> waste, as it is to be seen this day, for the wickedness of the
> house of Israel and the house of Juda.
> 
> 27
> O Lord our God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy
> goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine,
> 
> 28
> As thou spakest by thy servant Moses in the day when thou
> didst command him to write the law before the children of
> Israel, saying,
> 
> 29
> If ye will not hear my voice, surely this very great
> multitude shall be turned into a small number among the nations,
> where I will scatter them.
> 
> 30
> For I knew that they would not hear me, because it is a
> stiffnecked people: but in the land of their captivities they
> shall remember themselves.
> 
> 31
> And shall know that I am the Lord their God: for I will give
> them an heart, and ears to hear:
> 
> 32
> And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and
> think upon my name,
> 
> 33
> And return from their stiff neck, and from their wicked
> deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, which
> sinned before the Lord.
> 
> 34
> And I will bring them again into the land which I promised
> with an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
> they shall be lords of it: and I will increase them, and they
> shall not be diminished.
> 
> 35
> 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.
> 
> Bar 3
> O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish the
> troubled spirit, crieth unto thee.
> 
> 2
> Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; ar thou art merciful: and have
> pity upon us, because we have sinned before thee.
> 
> 3
> For thou endurest for ever, and we perish utterly.
> 
> 4
> O Lord Almighty, thou God of Israel, hear now the prayers of
> the dead Israelites, and of their children, which have sinned
> before thee, and not hearkened unto the voice of thee their God:
> for the which cause these plagues cleave unto us.
> 
> 5
> Remember not the iniquities of our forefathers: but think
> upon thy power and thy name now at this time.
> 
> 6
> For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O Lord, will we
> praise.
> 
> 7
> And for this cause thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to
> the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in
> our captivity: for we have called to mind all the iniquity of
> our forefathers, that sinned before thee.
> 
> 8
> Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast
> scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to
> payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which
> departed from the Lord our God.
> 
> 9
> Hear, Israel, the commandments of life: give ear to
> understand wisdom.
> 
> 10
> How happeneth it Israel, that thou art in thine enemies'
> land, that thou art waxen old in a strange country, that thou
> art defiled with the dead,
> 
> 11
> That thou art counted with them that go down into the grave?
> 
> 12
> Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
> 
> 13
> For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou shouldest
> have dwelled in peace for ever.
> 
> 14
> Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is
> understanding; that thou mayest know also where is length of
> days, and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.
> 
> 15
> Who hath found out her place? or who hath come into her
> treasures ?
> 
> 16
> Where are the princes of the heathen become, and such as
> ruled the beasts upon the earth;
> 
> 17
> They that had their pastime with the fowls of the air, and
> they that hoarded up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and
> made no end of their getting?
> 
> 18
> For they that wrought in silver, and were so careful, and
> whose works are unsearchable,
> 
> 19
> They are vanished and gone down to the grave, and others are
> come up in their steads.
> 
> 20
> Young men have seen light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the
> way of knowledge have they not known,
> 
> 21
> Nor understood the paths thereof, nor laid hold of it: their
> children were far off from that way.
> 
> 22
> It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been
> seen in Theman.
> 
> 23
> The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the merchants of
> Meran and of Theman, the authors of fables, and searchers out of
> understanding; none of these have known the way of wisdom, or
> remember her paths.
> 
> 24
> O Israel, how great is the house of God! and how large is the
> place of his possession!
> 
> 25
> Great, and hath none end; high, and unmeasurable.
> 
> 26
> There were the giants famous from the beginning, that were of
> so great stature, and so expert in war.
> 
> 27
> Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave he the way of
> knowledge unto them:
> 
> 28
> But they were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and
> perished through their own foolishness.
> 
> 29
> Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her
> down from the clouds?
> 
> 30
> Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her
> for pure gold?
> 
> 31
> No man knoweth her way, nor thinketh of her path.
> 
> 32
> But he that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found
> her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for
> evermore hath filled it with fourfooted beasts:
> 
> 33
> He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth, calleth it again,
> and it obeyeth him with fear.
> 
> 34
> The stars shined in their watches, and rejoiced: when he
> calleth them, they say, Here we be; and so with cheerfulness
> they shewed light unto him that made them.
> 
> 35
> This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of
> in comparison of him
> 
> 36
> He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it
> unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.
> 
> 37
> Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and conversed with
> men.
> 
> Bar 4
> This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that
> endureth for ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but
> such as leave it shall die.
> 
> 2
> Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence
> of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated.
> 
> 3
> Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are
> profitable unto thee to a strange nation.
> 
> 4
> O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God
> are made known unto us.
> 
> 5
> Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel.
> 
> 6
> Ye were sold to the nations, not for [your] destruction: but
> because ye moved God to wrath, ye were delivered unto the
> enemies.
> 
> 7
> For ye provoked him that made you by sacrificing unto devils,
> and not to God.
> 
> 8
> Ye have forgotten the everlasting God, that brought you up;
> and ye have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you.
> 
> 9
> For when she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, she said,
> Hearken, O ye that dwell about Sion: God hath brought upon me
> great mourning;
> 
> 10
> For I saw the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the
> Everlasting brought upon them.
> 
> 11
> With joy did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping
> and mourning.
> 
> 12
> Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and forsaken of many,
> who for the sins of my children am left desolate; because they
> departed from the law of God.
> 
> 13
> They knew not his statutes, nor walked in the ways of his
> commandments, nor trod in the paths of discipline in his
> righteousness.
> 
> 14
> Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember ye the
> captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting hath
> brought upon them.
> 
> 15
> For he hath brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless
> nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old
> man, nor pitied child.
> 
> 16
> These have carried away the dear beloved children of the
> widow, and left her that was alone desolate without daughters.
> 
> 17
> But what can I help you?
> 
> 18
> For he that brought these plagues upon you will deliver you
> from the hands of your enemies.
> 
> 19
> Go your way, O my children, go your way: for I am left
> desolate.
> 
> 20
> I have put off the clothing of peace, and put upon me the
> sackcloth of my prayer: I will cry unto the Everlasting in my
> days.
> 
> 21
> Be of good cheer, O my children, cry unto the Lord, and he
> will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies.
> 
> 22
> For my hope is in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and
> joy is come unto me from the Holy One, because of the mercy
> which shall soon come unto you from the Everlasting our Saviour.
> 
> 23
> For I sent you out with mourning and weeping: but God will
> give you to me again with joy and gladness for ever.
> 
> 24
> Like as now the neighbours of Sion have seen your captivity:
> so shall they see shortly your salvation from our God which
> shall come upon you with great glory, and brightness of the
> Everlasting.
> 
> 25
> My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you
> from God: for thine enemy hath persecuted thee; but shortly thou
> shalt see his destruction, and shalt tread upon his neck.
> 
> 26
> My delicate ones have gone rough ways, and were taken away as
> a flock caught of the enemies.
> 
> 27
> Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry unto God: for ye
> shall be remembered of him that brought these things upon you.
> 
> 28
> For as it was your mind to go astray from God: so, being
> returned, seek him ten times more.
> 
> 29
> For he that hath brought these plagues upon you shall bring
> you everlasting joy with your salvation.
> 
> 30
> Take a good heart, O Jerusalem: for he that gave thee that
> name will comfort thee.
> 
> 31
> Miserable are they that afflicted thee, and rejoiced at thy
> fall.
> 
> 32
> Miserable are the cities which thy children served: miserable
> is she that received thy sons.
> 
> 33
> For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so
> shall she be grieved for her own desolation.
> 
> 34
> For I will take away the rejoicing of her great multitude,
> and her pride shall be turned into mourning.
> 
> 35
> For fire shall come upon her from the Everlasting, long to
> endure; and she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time.
> 
> 36
> O Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east, and behold the
> joy that cometh unto thee from God.
> 
> 37
> Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they come gathered
> together from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One,
> rejoicing in the glory of God.
> 
> Bar 5
> Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of mourning and
> affliction, and put on the comeliness of the glory that cometh
> from God for ever.
> 
> 2
> Cast about thee a double garment of the righteousness which
> cometh from God; and set a diadem on thine head of the glory of
> the Everlasting.
> 
> 3
> For God will shew thy brightness unto every country under
> heaven.
> 
> 4
> For thy name shall be called of God for ever The peace of
> righteousness, and The glory of God's worship.
> 
> 5
> Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and look about toward
> the east, and behold thy children gathered from the west unto
> the east by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the
> remembrance of God.
> 
> 6
> For they departed from thee on foot, and were led away of
> their enemies: but God bringeth them unto thee exalted with
> glory, as children of the kingdom.
> 
> 7
> For God hath appointed that every high hill, and banks of
> long continuance, should be cast down, and valleys filled up, to
> make even the ground, that Israel may go safely in the glory of
> God,
> 
> 8
> Moreover even the woods and every sweetsmelling tree shall
> overshadow Israel by the commandment of God.
> 
> 9
> For God shall lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory
> with the mercy and righteousness that cometh from him.
>
> — *The Book of Baruch*