Lost Books of the Bible (167 page)

Chapter 8

1 Now the angels did as he had commanded them, and when they had broken up the corners of the walls, a voice was heard from the interior of the temple, after the wall had fallen, saying:

2 Enter, you enemies. Come, you adversaries; For he who kept the house has forsaken it.

3 And I, Baruch, departed.

4 And after these things happened the army of the Chaldees entered and seized the house and all that was around it.

5 And they led the people away captive, and killed some of them, and bound Zedekiah the King, and sent him to the King of Babylon.

Chapter 9

1 And I, Baruch, came, and Jeremiah, whose heart was found pure from sins, who had not been captured in the seizure of the city.

2 And we ripped our garments, we wept, and mourned, and fasted seven days.

Chapter 10

1 After seven days the word of God came to me, and said to me:

2  Tell Jeremiah to go and support the people who are led captive in to Babylon.

3 But you remain here amid the desolation of Zion, and I will show you after these days what will occur at the end of days.

4   And I said to Jeremiah as the Lord commanded me.

5 And he indeed, departed with the people; but I, Baruch, returned and sat before the gates of the temple, and I lamented with the following lamentation over Zion and said:

6  Blessed is he who was not born, or he, who having been born, has died.

7 But as for us who live, woe to us, Because we see the afflictions of Zion, and what has befallen Jerusalem.

8 I will call the Sirens from the sea, And you Lilin, (Lilin, in Jewish myth, was the daughter of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, and the demon Samael who is often identified with Satan) come from the desert. And you Shedim and dragons from the forests: Awake and prepare yourselves for mourning; and take up with me the dirges, and make lamentation with me.

9 You husbandmen, sow not again; and, O earth, wherefore gives you your harvest fruits? Keep within you the sweets of your sustenance.

10 And you, vine, why further do you give your wine; for an offering will not again be made there from in Zion. Nor will the first-fruits again be offered.

11 And do you, O heavens, withhold your dew, and open not the treasuries of rain?

12 And do you, O sun, withhold the light of your rays? And do you, O moon, extinguish the multitude of your light? For why should light rise again where the light of Zion is darkened?

13 And you, you bridegrooms, enter not in. And let not the brides adorn themselves with garlands. And you women, pray not that you may bear.

14 For the barren will above all rejoice, And those who have no sons will be glad,  and those who have sons will have anguish.

15 For why should they bear in pain, only to bury in grief?

16 Why again should mankind have sons? Why should the offspring of their kind again be named; where this mother is desolate, and her sons are led into captivity?

17 From this time forward speak not of beauty, and do not discuss gracefulness.

18 Moreover, you priests, take you the keys of the sanctuary and cast them into the height of heaven; and give them to the Lord and say: Guard Your house Yourself. For we are found to be false stewards.

19 And you virgins who weave fine linen and silk with gold of Ophir (the place from where the fleets of Solomon brought gold), take with haste all (these) things and cast (them) into the fire, that it may carry them to Him who made them. And the flame send them to Him who created them, lest the enemy get possession of them.

Chapter 11

1 Moreover, I, Baruch, say this against you, Babylon: If you had prospered, and Zion had dwelt in her glory, the grief to us would have been great because you would be equal to Zion.

2 But now, the grief is infinite; and the lamentation measureless because you are prospered and Zion desolate.

3 Who will be judge regarding these things? Or to whom will we complain regarding that which has befallen us? O Lord, how have You borne (it)?

4 Our fathers went to rest without grief and the righteous sleep in the earth in tranquility.

5 For they knew not this anguish, nor yet had they heard of that which had befallen us.

6 Would that you had ears, O earth, and that you had a heart, O dust. That you might go and announce in Sheol (hell / place of the dead) and say to the dead: Blessed are you more than we who live.

Chapter 12

1 But I will say what I think and I will speak against you, O land, which are prospering.

2 The noonday does not always burn, nor do the rays of the sun constantly give light.

3 Do not expect [and hope] that you will always be prosperous and rejoicing. Do not be not greatly arrogant and boastful.

4 For certainly in its own season the divine rage will awake against you, even though now in long-suffering it is held in as it were by reins.

5 And when I had said these things, I fasted seven days.

Chapter 13

1 After these things I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion, and a voice came from the height and said to me:

2  Stand up on your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.

3 Because you have been amazed at what has befallen Zion, you will therefore be certainly preserved to the conclusion of the times, that you may be for a testimony.

4 If ever those prosperous cities say: Why has the mighty God brought upon us this retribution?

5 You say to them: You and those like you who will have seen this evil; (This is the evil) and retribution which is coming upon you and upon your people in its (destined) time that the nations may be thoroughly beaten (smitten.)

6 And then they will be in anguish.

7 And if they say at that time: For how long? You will say to them: You who have drunk the strained wine, drink also of its dregs, the judgment of the Lofty One Who has no respect of persons.

 8 On this account before he had no mercy on His own sons, but afflicted them as His enemies, because they sinned, then they were disciplined so that they might be sanctified.

9 But now, you peoples and nations, you are guilty because you have always trodden down the earth, and used the creation sinfully and wrongfully. 

10 For I have always benefited you and you have always been ungrateful for the beneficence.

Chapter 14

 1 And I answered and said:  You have shown me the method (behavior / procedure) of the times, and that which will alter these things, and You have said to me that the retribution, which has been spoken of by You, will come upon the nations.

2 And now I know that those who have sinned are many, and they have lived in prosperity, and left the world, but few nations will be left in those times, to whom those words will be said which You have said.

3 For what advantage is there in this, or what evil, worse than what we have seen happen us can we expect to see?

4 But again I will speak in Your presence: What have they profited who had knowledge before You and have not walked in vanity as the rest of the nations, and have not said to the dead: "Give us life," but always feared You, and have not left Your ways?

5 They have been carried off, nor on their account have You had mercy on Zion.

6 And if others did evil, it was due to Zion, that on account of those who do good works should be forgiven, and should not be overwhelmed on account of the works of those who practice  unrighteousness.

7 But who, O Lord, my Lord, will understand Your judgment, or who will search out the profoundness of Your way?

8 Or who will think out the weight of Your path?

 9 Or who will be able to think out Your incomprehensible counsel?

10 Or who of those that are born has ever found the beginning or end of Your wisdom? 

11 For we have all been made like a breath. For as the breath ascends involuntarily and again dies, so it is with the nature of men, who depart not according to their own will, and know not what will befall them in the end.

12 For the righteous justly hope for the end, and without fear leave this habitation, because they have with You a store of works preserved in treasuries.

13 On this account also these without fear leave this world, and trusting with joy they hope to receive the world which You have promised them.

14 But as for us --- woe to us, who also are now shamefully treated, and at that time look forward (only) to evil.

15 But You know accurately what You have done by means of Your servants; for we are not able to understand that which is good as You are, our Creator.

16 But again I will speak in Your presence, O LORD, my Lord.

17 In ancient times there was no world with its inhabitants, You did devise and speak with a word, and with that the works of creation stood before You.

18 And You did say that You would make man the administrator of Your works, that it might be known that he was by no means made on account of the world, but the world on account of him.

19 And now I see that as the world was made on account of us, and it abides, but we, on account of whom it was made, depart.

Chapter 15

1 And the Lord answered and said to me: You are rightly amazed regarding the departure of man, but you have not judged well regarding the evils which befall those who sin.

2 And as regards  what you have said, that the righteous are carried off and the impious are prospered.

3 And as regards what you have said, "Man knows not Your judgment," on this account hear, and I will  speak to you, and listen, and I will cause you to hear My words.

4 Man would not rightly have understood My judgment, unless he had accepted the law, and I had instructed him in understanding.

5 But now, because he transgressed knowingly on this ground that he worked, he will be tormented.

6 And as regards what you did say regarding the righteous, that on account of them has this world come, so also again will that which is to come, come on their account.

7  For this world is to them a strife and a labor with much trouble; and that accordingly which is to come, a crown with great glory.

Chapter 16

1 And I answered and said: O LORD, my Lord, the years of this time are few and evil, and who is able in his little time to acquire that which is measureless?

Chapter 17

 1 And the Lord answered and said to me: With the Most High account is not taken of much time  nor of a few years.

2 For what did it profit Adam that he lived nine hundred and thirty years, and transgressed that which he was commanded?