by Septuagint
[20] RHECHS. Behold, O Lord, and see for whom thou has gathered thus. Shall the women eat the fruit of their womb? the cook has made a gathering: shall the infants sucking at the breasts be slain? wilt thou slay the priest and prophet in the sanctuary of the Lord?
[21] CHSEN. The child and old man have lain down in the street: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity: thou hast slain them with the sword and with famine; in the day of thy wrath thou hast mangled them, thou has not spared.
[22] THAU. He has called my sojourners round about to a solemn day, and there was not in the day of the wrath of the Lord any one that escaped or was left; whereas I have strengthened and multiplied all mine enemies.
Chapter 3
[1] ALEPH. I am the man that sees poverty, through the rod of his wrath upon me. [2] He has taken me, and led me away into darkness, and not into light. [3] Nay, against me has he turned his hand all the day. [4] He has made old my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones.
[5] BETH. He has built against me, and compassed my head, and brought travail upon me. [6] He has set me in dark places, as them that have long been dead. [7] He has builded against me, and I cannot come forth: he has made my brazen chain heavy.
[8] GIMEL. Yea, though I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer.
[9] DALETH. He has built up my ways, he has hedged my paths; [10] he has troubled me, as a she-bear lying in wait: he is to me as a lion in secret places. [11] He pursued me after I departed, and brought me to a stand: he has utterly ruined me.
[12] HE. He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. [13] He has caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. [14] I became a laughing-stock to all my people; and their song all the day.
[15] VAU. He has filled me with bitterness, he has drenched me with gall. [16] And he has dashed out my teeth with gravel, he has fed me with ashes. [17] He has also removed my soul from peace: I forgot prosperity. [18] Therefore my success has perished, and my hope from the Lord.
[19] ZAIN. I remembered by reason of my poverty, and because of persecution my bitterness and gall shall be remembered; [20] and my soul shall meditate with me. [21] This will I lay up in my heart, therefore I will endure.
[22] HETH. It is the mercies of the Lord, that he has not failed me, because his compassions are not exhausted. Pity us, O Lord, early every month: for we are not brought to an end, because his compassions are not exhausted. [23] They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. [24] The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I wait for him.
[25] TETH. The Lord is good to them that wait for him: the soul which shall seek him [26] is good, and shall wait for, and quietly expect salvation of the Lord.
[27] TETH. It is good for a man when he bears a yoke in his youth. [28] He will sit alone, and be silent, because he has borne it upon him.
[29] 30 JOD. He will give his cheek to him that smites him: he will be filled full with reproaches. [31] For the Lord will not reject for ever.
[32] CHAPH. For he that has brought down will pity, and that according to the abundance of his mercy. [33] He has not answered in anger from his heart, though he has brought low the children of a man.
[34] LAMED. To bring down under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, [35] to turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the Most High, [36] to condemn a man unjustly in his judgment, the Lord has not given commandment. [37] Who has thus spoken, and it has come to pass? the Lord has not commanded it. [38] Out of the mouth of the Most High there shall not come forth evil and good.
[39] MEM. Why should a living man complain, a man concerning his sin?
[40] NUN. Our way has been searched out and examined, and we will turn to the Lord. [41] Let us lift up our hearts with our hand to the lofty One in heaven. [42] We have sinned, we have transgressed; and thou hast not pardoned.
[43] SAMECH. Thou has visited us in wrath, and driven us away: thou has slain, thou has not pitied. [44] Thou hast veiled thyself with a cloud because of prayer, that I might be blind, [45] and be cast off. AIN. Thou hast set us alone in the midst of the nations. [46] All our enemies have opened their mouth against us. [47] Fear and wrath are come upon us, suspense and destruction. [48] Mine eye shall pour down torrents of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[49] PHE. Mine eye is drowned with tears, and I will not be silent, so that there shall be no rest, [50] until the Lord look down, and behold from heaven. [51] Mine eye shall prey upon my soul, because of all the daughters of the city.
[52] TSADE. The fowlers chased me as a sparrow, all mine enemies destroyed my life in a pit without cause, [53] and laid a stone upon me. [54] Water flowed over my head: I said, I am cut off.
[55] KOPH. I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the lowest dungeon. [56] Thou heardest my voice: close not thine ears to my supplication. [57] Thou drewest nigh to my help: in the day wherein I called upon thee thou saidst to me, Fear not.
[58] RECHS. O Lord, thou has pleaded the causes of my soul; thou has redeemed my life. [59] Thou hast seen, O Lord, my troubles: thou hast judged my cause. [60] Thou hast seen all their vengeance, thou hast looked on all their devices against me.
[61] CHSEN. Thou hast heard their reproach and all their devices against me; [62] the lips of them that rose up against me, and their plots against me all the day; [63] their sitting down and their rising up: look thou upon their eyes. [64] Thou wilt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands.
[65] THAU. Thou wilt give them as a covering, the grief of my heart. [66] Thou wilt persecute them in anger, and wilt consume them from under the heaven, O Lord.
Chapter 4
[1] ALEPH. How will the gold be tarnished, and the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets.
[2] BETH. The precious sons of Zion, who were equalled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the works of the hands of the potter!
[3] GIMEL. Nay, serpents have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as an ostrich in a desert.
[4] DALETH. The tongue of the sucking child cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, and there is none to break it to them.
[5] HE. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung.
[6] VAU. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people has been increased beyond the iniquities of Sodoma, the city that was overthrown very suddenly, and none laboured against her with their hands.
[7] ZAIN. Her Nazarites were made purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were purified as with fire, their polishing was superior to sapphire stone.
[8] HETH. Their countenance is become blacker than smoke; they are not known in the streets: their skin has cleaved to their bones; they are withered, they are become as a stick.
[9] TETH. The slain with the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger: they have departed, pierced through from want of the fruits of the field.
[10] JOD. The hands of tender-hearted women have sodden their own children: they became meat for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
[11] CHAPH. The Lord has accomplished his wrath; he has poured out fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Sion, and it has devoured her foundations.
[12] LAMED. The kings of the earth, even all that dwell in the world, believed not that an enemy and oppressor would enter through the gates of Jerusalem.
[13] MEM. For the sins of her prophets, and iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her,
[14] NUN. her watchmen staggered in the streets, they were defiled with blood in their weakness, they touched their raiment with it.
[15] SAMECH. Depart ye from the unclean ones: call ye them: depart, depart, touch them not: for they are on fire, yea, they stagger: say ye among the nations, They sha
ll no more sojourn there.
[16] AIN. The presence of the Lords was their portion; but he will not again look upon them: they regarded not the person of the priests, they pitied not the prophets.
[17] PHE. While we yet lived our eyes failed, while we looked in vain for our help. TSADE. We looked to a nation that could not save. [18] We have hunted for our little ones, that they should not walk in our streets. KOPH. Our time has drawn nigh, our days are fulfilled, our time is come. [19] Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky, they flew on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us.
[20] RECHS. The breath of our nostrils, our anointed Lord, was taken in their destructive snares, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles.
[21] CHSEN. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Idumea, that dwellest in the land: yet the cup of the Lord shall pass through to thee: thou shalt be drunken, and pour forth.
[22] THAU. O daughter of Sion, thine iniquity has come to an end; he shall no more carry thee captive: he has visited thine iniquities, O daughter of Edom; he has discovered thy sins.
Chapter 5
[1] Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us: behold, and look on our reproach.
[2] Our inheritance has been turned away to aliens, our houses to strangers: [3] we are become orphans, we have no father, our mothers are as widows. [4] We have drunk our water for money; our wood is sold to us for a burden on our neck: [5] we have been persecuted, we have laboured, we have had no rest.
[6] Egypt gave the hand to us, Assur to their own satisfaction. [7] Our fathers sinned, and are not: we have borne their iniquities. [8] Servants have ruled over us: there is none to ransom us out of their hand. [9] We shall bring in our bread with danger of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. [10] Our skin is blackened like an oven; they are convulsed, because of the storms of famine. [11] They humbled the women in Sion, the virgins in the cities of Juda. [12] Princes were hanged up by their hands: the elders were not honoured. [13] The chosen men lifted up the voice in weeping, and the youths fainted under the wood. [14] And the elders ceased from the gate, the chosen men ceased from their music. [15] The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. [16] The crown has fallen from our head: yea, woe to us! for we have sinned.
[17] For this has grief come; our heart is sorrowful: for this our eyes are darkened. [18] Over the mountain of Sion, because it is made desolate, foxes have walked therein.
[19] But thou, O Lord, shalt dwell for ever; thy throne shall endure to generation and generation. [20] Wherefore wilt thou utterly forget us, and abandon us a long time? [21] Turn us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be turned; and renew our days as before. [22] For thou hast indeed rejected us; thou hast been very wroth against us.
Baruch
Chapter 1
[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.
Chapter 2
[1] 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 s
ight 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.