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The Prophecy
of Baruch 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 Sedei, the son of Helcias, wrote in Babylonia.
In the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month,
at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt
it with fire.
And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing
of Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and in
the hearing of all the people that came to hear the
book.
And in the hearing of the nobles, the sons of the kings,
and in the hearing of the ancients, and in the hearing
of the people, from the least even to the greatest of
them that dwelt in Babylonia, by the river Sedi.
And when they heard it they wept, and fasted, and prayed
before the Lord.
And they made a collection of money, according to every
man's power.
And they sent it to Jerusulem to Joakim the priest,
the son of Helcias, the son of Salom, and to the priests,
and to all the people, that were found with him in Jerusalem:
At the time when he received the vessels of the temple
of the Lord, which had been taken away out of the temple,
to return them into the land of Juda the tenth day of
the month Sivan, the silver vessels, which Sedecias
the son of Josias king of Juda had made,
After that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had carried
away Jechonias, and the princes, and all the powerful
men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and
brought them bound to Babylon.
And they said: Behold we have sent you money, buy with
it holocausts, and frankincense, and make meat offerings,
and offerings for sin at the altar of the Lord our God:
And pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor the king
of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that
their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven:
And that the Lord may give us strength, and enlighten
our eyes, that we may live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor
the king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar
his son, and may serve them many days, and may find
favour in their sight.
And pray ye for us to the Lord our God: for we have
sinned against the Lord our God, and his wrath is not
turned away from us even to this day.
And read ye this book, which we have sent to you to
be read in the temple of the Lord, on feasts, and proper
days.
And you shall say: To the Lord our God belongeth justice,
but to us confusion of our face: as it is come to pass
at this day to all Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests,
and to our prophets, and to our fathers.
We have sinned before the Lord our God, and have not
believed him, nor put our trust in him:
And we were not obedient to him, and we have not harkened
to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his commandments,
which he hath given us.
From the day that he brought our fathers out of the
land of Egypt, even to this day, we were disobedient
to the Lord our God: and going astray we turned away
from hearing his voice.
And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curses which
the Lord foretold by Moses his servant: who brought
our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land
flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.
And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our
God according to all the words of the prophets whom
he sent to us:
And we have gone away every man after the inclinations
of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and
to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God. Chapter2 |