Baruch 3

Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the troubled spirit cry out to you.

1O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish the troubled spirit, crieth unto thee.

NoteBaruch presents itself as the work of Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe who wrote down the prophecies of Jeremiah. The book is set among the Judeans deported to Babylon after Jerusalem fell in 587 BC, and the prayer that runs from 1:15 through 3:8 is spoken in their voice, as exiles far from home.

2Hear us, Lord, and have mercy, because you are merciful. Have pity on us, because we have sinned against you.

2Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; ar thou art merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before thee.

NoteThe King James line "ar thou art merciful" is a printing error for "for thou art merciful"; later editions correct it.

3You are seated on your throne forever, and we keep perishing.

3For thou endurest for ever, and we perish utterly.

4Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear now the prayers of the Israelites who have died, and of their children, who have sinned against you and have not listened to your voice, the voice of the Lord their God. That is why these troubles cling to us.

4O Lord Almighty, thou God of Israel, hear now the prayers of the dead Israelites, and of their children, which have sinned before thee, and not hearkened unto the voice of thee their God: for the which cause these plagues cleave unto us.

Note"Plagues" in 1611 English meant blows or calamities of any kind, not specifically disease. The Greek here is awkward and has been read two ways: either the dead of Israel are themselves praying, or the prayer is that of the children of a generation that has died. Translators differ, and the rendering keeps the looser sense the King James took.

5Do not remember the wrongs of our forefathers. Think instead about your power and your name, now, at this time.

5Remember not the iniquities of our forefathers: but think upon thy power and thy name now at this time.

6For you are the Lord our God, and we will praise you, Lord.

6For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O Lord, will we praise.

7This is why you have put the fear of you in our hearts, so that we would call on your name and praise you while we are captives. We have called to mind all the wrongdoing of our forefathers, who sinned against you.

7And for this cause thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity: for we have called to mind all the iniquity of our forefathers, that sinned before thee.

Note"Fear" in this sense means awe or reverence toward God, the attitude expected of a worshiper, rather than fright.

8Look, we are still today in our captivity, where you scattered us, to be an insult and a curse, and to be liable to pay a penalty, because of all the wrongs of our fathers, who turned away from the Lord our God.

8Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.

Note"Subject to payments" translates a Greek phrase whose sense is disputed: it may mean liable to a legally imposed penalty, or made to pay tribute to a foreign ruler. "A reproach and a curse" means that Israel's name became a byword, the example people reached for when they wanted to describe disaster.

9Listen, Israel, to the commands that give life. Pay attention, so that you may understand wisdom.

9Hear, Israel, the commandments of life: give ear to understand wisdom.

Note"Hear, Israel" deliberately echoes the opening words of the most familiar of all Jewish prayers, the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4. A reader of the time would have caught the echo at once.

10How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies, that you have grown old in a foreign country, that you have been made unclean by contact with the dead,

10How happeneth it Israel, that thou art in thine enemies’ land, that thou art waxen old in a strange country, that thou art defiled with the dead,

NoteUnder the Law of Moses, touching a corpse or being in the same tent as one made a person ritually unclean, requiring a set period and ritual before normal worship could resume. Here the phrase describes the exiles' whole condition in a foreign land, not a single incident.

11that you are counted with those who go down to the grave?

11That thou art counted with them that go down into the grave?

NoteThe Greek word is Hades, the shadowy underworld where the dead were thought to go. The King James renders it "the grave" throughout this chapter.

12You have abandoned the fountain of wisdom.

12Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom.

13If you had walked in the way of God, you would have lived in peace forever.

13For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou shouldest have dwelled in peace for ever.

14Learn where wisdom is, where strength is, where understanding is. Then you will also know where length of days and life are, and where the light of the eyes and peace are.

14Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding; that thou mayest know also where is length of days, and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.

Note"Length of days" is a standard idiom for a long life. "The light of the eyes" is an idiom for vitality and gladness: bright eyes meant a person was alive and thriving, dimmed eyes meant failing strength.

15Who has found the place where she lives? Who has entered her storerooms?

15Who hath found out her place? or who hath come into her treasures?

NoteWisdom is spoken of as "she" throughout this chapter. The word for wisdom is grammatically feminine in both Hebrew and Greek, and writers of this period regularly personified her as a woman with a house, storerooms and paths of her own.

16Where have they gone, the rulers of the nations, and those who ruled the animals of the earth,

16Where are the princes of the heathen become, and such as ruled the beasts upon the earth;

Note"The heathen" in the King James simply means the nations other than Israel, the gentiles; it carries no comment on their character. Ruling "the beasts upon the earth" probably points to kings who hunted big game or kept collections of exotic animals, a standard display of royal power in the ancient Near East.

17those who amused themselves with the birds of the sky, and those who piled up silver and gold, which people trust in, and there was no end to what they got?

17They that had their pastime with the fowls of the air, and they that hoarded up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and made no end of their getting?

NoteKeeping and hunting birds was a leisure pursuit of the very rich, and the line is listing the amusements of kings alongside their treasuries.

18Those who worked at silver, and were so anxious about it, whose works cannot be traced

18For they that wrought in silver, and were so careful, and whose works are unsearchable,

Note"Careful" in 1611 English meant full of care, that is, anxious or worried; it did not mean cautious or thorough. "Whose works are unsearchable" means that the silversmiths' craftsmanship was so fine it could not be worked out by looking at it.

19they have vanished and gone down to the grave, and others have risen up in their place.

19They are vanished and gone down to the grave, and others are come up in their steads.

20Younger men have seen the light and lived on the earth, but they have not known the way of knowledge,

20Young men have seen light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge have they not known,

NoteTo "see light" is an idiom for being born and coming into the world of the living.

21nor understood its paths, nor taken hold of it. Their children were far away from that way.

21Nor understood the paths thereof, nor laid hold of it: their children were far off from that way.

22It has not been heard of in Canaan, and it has not been seen in Teman.

22It hath not been heard of in Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.

NoteCanaan, the coastal region later associated with Phoenician traders, stood proverbially for commercial shrewdness. Teman was a district of Edom with an old reputation for wise men; Jeremiah 49:7 asks whether wisdom is no longer in Teman, and Job's friend Eliphaz is called a Temanite.

23The Agarenes, who search for wisdom on the earth, the merchants of Merran and of Teman, the tellers of tales, and those who search out understanding, none of these have known the way of wisdom or kept her paths in mind.

23The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the merchants of Meran and of Theman, the authors of fables, and searchers out of understanding; none of these have known the way of wisdom, or remember her paths.

NoteThe Agarenes are the descendants of Hagar, Abraham's servant and the mother of Ishmael, understood as Arabian tribes known for shrewd trading. Merran is otherwise unknown and may be a garbled form of Midian. "The authors of fables" means composers of proverbs and parables, a recognized class of professional sages.

24Israel, how great is the house of God! How large is the place he possesses!

24O Israel, how great is the house of God! and how large is the place of his possession!

Note"The house of God" here is not the temple in Jerusalem but the whole created world, pictured as God's dwelling; the next verse describes it as endless and unmeasurable.

25It is great, and it has no end. It is high, and it cannot be measured.

25Great, and hath none end; high, and unmeasurable.

26There the giants were born, the famous ones from long ago, who were of enormous size and skilled in war.

26There were the giants famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and so expert in war.

NoteThe giants are the figures of Genesis 6:4, a race of enormous warriors born before the flood, whom later Jewish writing treated as the standard example of great strength without wisdom.

27God did not choose them, and he did not give them the way of knowledge.

27Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave he the way of knowledge unto them:

28They were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and they died through their own foolishness.

28But they were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness.

29Who has gone up into the sky, taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

29Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

NoteVerses 29 and 30 closely echo Deuteronomy 30:12-13, where Moses asks who will go up to heaven or cross the sea to fetch the commandment. The questions here are put about wisdom instead.

30Who has crossed the sea, found her, and will buy her with fine gold?

30Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for pure gold?

31No one knows the way to her, and no one thinks about her path.

31No man knoweth her way, nor thinketh of her path.

32But the one who knows all things knows her, and found her out by his understanding. He who prepared the earth for all time has filled it with four-footed animals.

32But he that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore hath filled it with fourfooted beasts:

33He sends out the light, and it goes. He calls it back, and it obeys him with fear.

33He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth, calleth it again, and it obeyeth him with fear.

34The stars shone at their posts and were glad. When he calls them, they say, "Here we are," and they gladly shone for the one who made them.

34The stars shined in their watches, and rejoiced: when he calleth them, they say, Here we be; and so with cheerfulness they shewed light unto him that made them.

Note"In their watches" pictures the stars as sentries standing at assigned posts through the night, in the fixed order in which they rise.

35This is our God, and no other will count as anything beside him.

35This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of him

36He has found out the whole way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant and to Israel whom he loves.

36He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.

NoteJacob and Israel are two names for the same person, the ancestor renamed in Genesis 32, and both are used here as names for the whole nation descended from him.

37After that, she appeared on earth and lived among people.

37Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and conversed with men.

NoteThe King James says "he", but the Greek verb is feminine and refers to wisdom, the "she" of the preceding verses; the rendering follows the Greek. "Conversed with men" uses "converse" in its older sense of living among people and sharing their daily life, not of holding a conversation.