Baruch, with the Letter of Jeremiah: "To the Lord Our God Belongs Righteousness": The Exiles' Confession (1:1–3:8)

These are the words of the book which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maaseas, the son of Sedekias, the son of Asadias, the son of Helkias, wrote in Babylon, in the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burned it with fire. Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Judah, and in the hearing of all the people who came to hear the book, and in the hearing of the mighty men, and of the kings’ sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and in the hearing of all the people, from the least to the greatest, even of all those who lived at Babylon by the river Sud. Then they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord. They also made a collection of money according to every man’s ability; and they sent it to Jerusalem to Joakim the high priest, the son of Helkias, the son of Salom, and to the priests and to all the people who were found with him at Jerusalem, at the same time when he took the vessels of the house of the Lord, that had been carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Judah, the tenth day of Sivan—silver vessels which Sedekias the son of Josias king of Judah had made, after Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, the princes, the captives, the mighty men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon.

And they said: Behold, we have sent you money; therefore buy with the money burnt offerings, sin offerings, and incense, and prepare an oblation, 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 Baltasar his son, that their days may be as the days of heaven above the earth. The Lord will give us strength and light to our eyes. We will live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon and under the shadow of Baltasar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and find favor in their sight. Pray for us also to the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God. To this day the wrath of the Lord and his indignation is not turned from us. You shall read this book which we have sent to you, to make confession in the house of the Lord upon the day of the feast and on the days of the solemn assembly.

You shall say: To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face, as at this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to our kings, to our princes, to our priests, to our prophets, and to our fathers, because we have sinned before the Lord. We have disobeyed him and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he has set before us. Since the day that the Lord brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to this present day, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not listening to his voice. Therefore the plagues have clung to us, along with the curse which the Lord declared through Moses his servant in the day that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to give us a land that flows with milk and honey, as at this day. Nevertheless we didn’t listen to the voice of the Lord our God, according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us, but we each walked in the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods and to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

Therefore the Lord has made good his word which he pronounced against us, and against our judges who judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah, to bring upon us great plagues such as never happened before under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are written in the law of Moses, that we should each eat the flesh of our own son, and each eat the flesh of our own daughter. Moreover he has given them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are around us, to be a reproach and a desolation among all the people around us, where the Lord has scattered them. Thus they were cast down and not exalted, because we sinned against the Lord our God in not listening to his voice. To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day. All these plagues have come upon us which the Lord has pronounced against us. Yet have we not entreated the favor of the Lord by everyone turning from the thoughts of his wicked heart. Therefore the Lord has kept watch over the plagues. The Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he has commanded us. Yet we have not listened to his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he has set before us.

And now, O Lord, you God of Israel who have brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, with signs, with wonders, with great power, and with a high arm, and have gotten yourself a name, as at this day: O Lord our God, we have sinned. We have been ungodly. We have done wrong in all your ordinances. Let your wrath turn from us, for we are but a few left among the heathen where you have scattered us. Hear our prayer, O Lord, and our petition, and deliver us for your own sake. Give us favor in the sight of those who have led us away captive, that all the earth may know that you are the Lord our God, because Israel and his posterity is called by your name. O Lord, look down from your holy house and consider us. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, and see; for the dead that are in Hades, whose breath is taken from their bodies, will give to the Lord neither glory nor righteousness; but the soul who is greatly vexed, who goes stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will declare your glory and righteousness, O Lord.

For we do not present our supplication before you, O Lord our God, for the righteousness of our fathers and of our kings. For you have sent your wrath and your indignation upon us, as you have spoken by your servants the prophets, saying, “The Lord says, ‘Bow your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon, and remain in the land that I gave to your fathers. But if you won’t hear the voice of the Lord to serve the king of Babylon, I will cause to cease out of the cities of Judah and from the region near Jerusalem the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. The whole land will be desolate without inhabitant.’ ” But we wouldn’t listen to your voice, to serve the king of Babylon. Therefore you have made good your words that you spoke by your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be taken out of their places. Behold, they are cast out to the heat by day and to the frost by night. They died in great miseries by famine, by sword, and by pestilence. You have made the house that is called by your name as it is today because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Yet, O Lord our God, you have dealt with us after all your kindness and according to all your great mercy, as you spoke by your servant Moses in the day when you commanded him to write your law in the presence of the children of Israel, saying, “If you won’t hear my voice, surely this very great multitude will be turned into a small number among the nations where I will scatter them. For I know that they will not hear me, because they are a stiff-necked people; but in the land of their captivity they will take it to heart, and will know that I am the Lord their God. I will give them a heart and ears to hear. Then they will praise me in the land of their captivity, and think about my name, and will return from their stiff neck and from their wicked deeds; for they will remember the way of their fathers who sinned before the Lord. I will bring them again into the land which I promised to their fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and they will rule over it. I will increase them, and they won’t be diminished. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their God, and they will be my people. I will no more remove my people Israel out of the land that I have given them.”

O Lord Almighty, you God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the troubled spirit cries to you. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; for you are a merciful God. Yes, have mercy upon us, because we have sinned before you. For you are enthroned forever, and we keep perishing. O Lord Almighty, you God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the dead Israelites, and of the children of those who were sinners before you, who didn’t listen to the voice of you their God; because of this, these plagues cling to us. Don’t remember the iniquities of our fathers, but remember your power and your name at this time. For you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you, O Lord. For this cause, you have put your fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon your name. We will praise you in our captivity, for we have called to mind all the iniquity of our fathers who sinned before you. Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity where you have scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to penalty according to all the iniquities of our fathers who departed from the Lord our God.