20 Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in dis-stroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he tress, my bowels are troubled: my heart is hath stretched out his line, and hath not turned within me, for I am full of bitterness withdrawn his hand from destroying and abroad the sword destroyeth, and at home the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall there is death alike. hath been destroyed together. 21 Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and 9 Teth. Her gates are sunk into the there is none to comfort me: all my ene-ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her mies have heard of my evil; they have re-bars: her king and her princes are among joiced that thou hast done it thou hast the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her brought a day of consolation, and they shall prophets have found no vision from the Lord. be like unto me. 10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of 22 Thau. Let all their evil be present be-Sion sit upon the ground; they have held fore thee and make vintage of them, as their peace: they have sprinkled their heads thou hast made vintage of me for all my ini-||with dust; they are girded with hair-cloth, quities for my sighs are many, and my the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heart is sorrowful. heads to the ground. CHAP. II. 11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping; my bowels are troubled: my liver is Aleph H obscurity the daughter of Siontion of the daughter of my people, when the OW hath the Lord covered with poured out upon the earth, for the destrucin his wrath! how hath he cast down from children, and the sucklings, fainted away in heaven to the earth the glorious one of Is-the streets of the city. 2 Beth. The Lord hath cast down head rael, and hath not remembered his footstool 12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: in the day of his anger. Where is corn and wine? when they fainted long, and hath not spared, all that was beau-way as the wounded in the streets of the tiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his the bosoms of their mothers. city; when they breathed out their souls in wrath the strong-holds of the virgin of Juda, 13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee, and brought them down to the ground: he or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of hath made the kingdom unclean, and the Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that princes thereof. I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of 3 Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce Sion? for great as the sea is thy destrucanger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn tion: who shall heal thee? back his right hand from before the enemy: 14 Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and he hath kindled in Jacob as it were aand foolish things for thee: and they have flaming fire devouring round about. not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments. 4 Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy: he hath fixed his right hand as an adversary and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion; he hath poured out his indignation like fire. 15 Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth? 5 He. The Lord is become as an enemy he hath cast down Israel headlong; he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath 16 Phe. All thy enemies have opened destroyed his strong-holds, and hath multi-their mouth against thee: they have hissed, plied in the daughter of Juda the afflicted and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day 6 Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent which we looked for: we have found it; we as a garden, he hath thrown down his ta-haye seen it. both men and women. bernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and 17 Ain. The Lord hath done that which sabbaths to be forgotten in Sion; and hath he purposed; he hath fulfilled his word, delivered up king and priest to reproach, which he commanded in the days of old: he and to the indignation of his wrath. hath destroyed, and hath not spared: and 7 Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar; he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over he hath cursed his sanctuary:* he hath de-thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adverlivered the walls of the towers thereof into saries. the hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. 18 Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: 8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to de-give thyself no rest, and let not the apple of chy eye cease. * He hath cursed his sanctuary. That is, 19 Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, he permitted his sanctuary to be destroyed, in the beginning of the watches: pour out as if it had not been consecrated, but exe-thy heart like water before the face of the crable, Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have fainted for||we are not consumed: because his commise. hunger at the top of all the streets. rations have not failed. 20 Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider 23 Heth. They are new every morning whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall wo- great is thy faithfulness. men then eat their own fruit, their children 24 Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my 25 Teth. The Lord is good to them that 26 Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God. of a span long? shall the priest, and the pro-soul: therefore will I wait for him. phet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 Sin. The child and the old man lie hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him. without on the ground: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: 27 Teth. It is good for a man, when he thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity. hath borne the yoke from his youth. 22 Thau. Thou hast called, as to a festi- 28 Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold val, those that should terrify me round his peace : because he hath taken it up upon about: and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and nourish-if ed, my enemy hath consumed them. CHAP. III. himself. 29 Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, so be there may be hope. 30 Jod. He shall shall give his cheek to him that striketh him: he shall be filled Aleph. I Am the man that see my poverty with reproaches. by the rod of his indignation. 2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light. 3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day. 4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old: he hath broken my bones. 5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall, and labour. 6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places, as those that are dead for ever. 7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy. 8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and treat, he hath shut out my prayer. 31 Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever. 32 Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according to the multitude of his mercies. 33 Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the children of men, 34 Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land. 35 Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the most High. 36 Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath not approved. 37 Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord comen-mandeth it not? 9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones: he hath turned my paths upside down. 10 Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in secret places. 11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. 12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows. 13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver. 14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long. 15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness: he hath inebriated me with wormwood. 16 Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one: he hath fed me with ashes. 17 Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace: I have forgotten good things. 18 Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord. 38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? 39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins? 40 Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord. 41 Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. 42 Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore thou art inexorable. 43 Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed, and hast not spared. 44 Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may not pass through. 45 Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst of the people. 46 Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. 47 Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and destruction. 19 Zain. Remember my poverty, and 48 Phe. My eye hath run down with transgression, the wormwood, and the gall. streams of water, for the destruction of the 20 Zain. I will be mindful and remem-daughter of my people. ber; and my soul shall languish within me. 49 Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath 21 Zain. These things I shall think over not been quiet, because there was no rest : in my heart, therefore will I hope. 50 Ain. Till the Lord regarded and lopk 22 Heth. The mercies of the Lord that led down from the heavens. 51 Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of my city. 52 Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird, without cause. 53 Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone over me. 54 Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off. 55 Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. 8 Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is withered, and is become like wood. 9 Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed for want of the fruits of the earth. 10 Jod. The hands of the pitiful women 56 Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: have sodden their own children: they were turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. cries. not. 57 Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, 11 Caph. The Lord hath accomplished when I called upon thee: thou saidst: Fear his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, 58 Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. cause of my soul, thou the Redeemer of my life. 12 Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not 59 Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their have believed, that the adversary and the iniquity against me: judge thou my judg-enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem. ment. 60 Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me. 13 Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. 61 Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their imaginations against me. 62 Sin. The lips of them that rise up 14 Nun. They have wandered as blind against me and their devices against me men in the streets, they were defiled with all the day. blood: and when they could not help walk63 Sin. Behold their sitting down, and ing in it, they held up their skirts. their rising up, I am their song. 15 Samech. Depart, you that are defiled, 64 Thau. Thou shalt render them a re- they cried out to them: Depart, get ye compence, O Lord, according to the works hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and of their hands. being removed, they said among the Gen CHAP. IV. 65 Thau. Thou shalt give them a buck-tiles: He will no more dwell among them. ler of heart thy labour. 16 Phe. The face of the Lord hath divi66 Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in ded them, he will no more regard them: anger, and shalt destroy them from under they respected not the persons of the priests, the heavens, O Lord. neither had they pity on the ancient. 17 Ain. While we were yet standing, our Aleph. W is the gold become dim, the eyes failed, expecting help for us in vain, finest colour is changed, the when we looked attentively towards a nastones of the sanctuary are scattered in the tion that was not able to save. top of every street? 18 Sade. Our steps have slipped in the 2 Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they way of our streets, our end draweth near: that were clothed with the best gold: how our days are fulfilled, for our end is come. are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the 19 Coph. Our persecutors were swifter work of the potter's hands? than the eagles of the air: they pursued us 3 Ghimel. Even the sea-monsters have upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us drawn out the breast, they have given suck in the wilderness. to their young, the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert. 20 Res. The breath of our mouth Christ the Lord is taken in our sins: to whom we 4 Daleth. The tongue of the suckling said: Under thy shadow we shall live among child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth the Gentiles. for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, 21 Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter and there was none to break it unto them. of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: 5 He. They that were fed delicately have to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt died in the streets: they that were brought be made drunk and naked. up in scarlet, have embraced the dung. 6 Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took nothing in her. 7 Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire. 22 Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will no more carry Christ, &c. This according to the let ter, is spoken of their king, who is called the Christ, that is, the Anointed of the Lord. But it also relates, in the spiritual sense, to Christ our Lord, suffering for our sins. thee away into captivity: he hath visited THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE R CHAP. V. EMEMBER, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers. 3 We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood. 5 We were dragged by the necks, we were weary, and no rest was given us. 6 We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we might be satisfied with bread. 14 The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the quire of the singers. 15 The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into mourning. 16 The crown is fallen from our head: wo to us, because we have sinned. 17 Therefore is our heart sorrowful; therefore are our eyes become dim, 18 For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon it. 19 But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from generation to genera 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not:tion. and we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of their hand. 9 We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the desert. 10 Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the famine. 20 Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a long time? 21 Convert us, O Lord, to thee; and we shall be converted: renew our days, as from the beginning. 22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art exceedingly angry against us. THE PROPHECY OF BARUCH. Baruch was a man of noble extraction, and|| learned in the law, secretary and disciple to the prophet Jeremias, and a sharer in his labours and persecutions: which is the reason why the ancient fathers have considered this book as a part of the prophecy of Jeremias, and have usually quoted it under his name. CHAP. I. The Jews of Babylon send the book of Baruch, with money to Jerusalem, requesting their brethren there to offer sacrifice, and to pray for the king and for them, acknow ledging their manifold sins. 4 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 greatesst of them, that dwelt in Babylonia, by the river Sodi. 5 And when they heard it, they wept, and fasted, and prayed before the Lord. 6 And they made a collection of money, according to every man's power. 7 And they sent it to Jerusalem 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 Jeru salem: 8 At the time when he received the vesND these are the words of the booksels of the temple of the Lord, which had which Baruch the son of Nerias, the been taken away out of the temple, to reson of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son turn them into the land of Juda the tenth of Sedei, the son of Helcias, wrote in Baby-day of the month Sivan, the silver vessels, lonia, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made, 2 In the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire. 3 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, 9 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 then bound to Babylon. 10 And they said: Behold, we have sent you money: buy with it holocausts, and frankincense, and make meat-offerings and salem, according to the things that are wat offerings for sin at the altar of the Lord our ten in the law of Moses : God: 3 That a man should eat the flesh of his 11 And pray ye for the life of Nabucho-own son, and the flesh of his own daughter. donosor the king of Babylon, and for the 4 And he hath delivered them up to be life of Balthassar his son, that their days under the hand of all the kings that are may be upon earth as the days of heaven: round about us, to be a reproach, and deso12 And that the Lord may give us lation among all the people, among whom strength, and enlighten our eyes, that we the Lord hath scattered us. may live under the shadow of Nabuchodo- 5 And we are brought under, and are not nosor the king of Babylon, and under the uppermost : because we have sinned against shadow of Balthassar his son; and may serve the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice. them many days, and may find favour in 6 To the Lord our God belongeth justice: their sight. but to us, and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day. 13 And pray ye for us to the Lord our God for we have sinned against the Lord 7 For the Lord hath pronounced against our God; and his wrath is not turned away us all these evils that are come upon us: from us even to this day. 14 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. 8 And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, that we might return every one of us from our most wicked ways. 15 And you shall say: To the Lord our 9 And the Lord hath watched over us for God belongeth justice, but to us confusion evil, and hath brought it upon us: for the of our face; as it is come to pass at this Lord is just in all his works which he hath day to all Juda, and to the inhabitants of commanded us : Jerusalem, 16 To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers. 17 We have sinned before the Lord our God, and have not believed him, nor put our trust in him : 18 And we were not obedient to him, and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his commandments, which he hath given us. 10 And we have not hearkened to his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord which he hath set before us. 11 And now, O Lord God of Israel, who hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with thy great power, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a name as at this day. 12 We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our 19 From the day that he brought our fa- God, against all thy justices. thers out of the land of Egypt, even to this 13 Let thy wrath be turned away from day, we were disobedient to the Lord our us: for we are left a few among the nations, God and going astray we turned away where thou hast scattered us. from hearing his voice. 14 Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our 20 And many evils have cleaved to us, petitions, and deliver us for thy own sake: and the curses which the Lord foretold by and grant that we may find favour in the Moses his servant: who brought our fathers sight of them that have led us away; out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land 15 That all the earth may know that thou flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. art the Lord our God, and that thy name 21 And we have not hearkened to the is called upon Israel, and upon his pos voice of the Lord our God according to all terity. the words of the prophets whom he sent 16 Look down upon us, O Lord, from to us : thy holy house, and incline thy ear, and 22 And we have gone away every man hear us. after the inclinations of his own wicked] 17 Open thy eyes, and behold: for the heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil dead that are in hell, whose spirit is taken in the sight of the Lord our God. CHAP. II. A further confession of the sins of the people, and of the justice of God. WHEREFORE his word, that he spoke THEREFORE the Lord our God hath to us, and to our judges that have judged Israel, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to all Israel and Juda: away from their bowels, shall not give glory and justice to the Lord: 18 But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil she hath done, and goeth bowed down, and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul giveth glory and justice to thee the Lord. 19 For it is not for the justices of our fa * Justice, &c. They that are in hell shall 2 That the Lord would bring upon us not give justice to God; that is, they shall great evils, such as never happened under not acknowledge and glorify his justice, as heaven, as they have come to pass in Jeru-"penitent sinners do upon earth. |