3:7. Because for this end 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 are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee.
3:8. And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord our G.o.d.
3:9. Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom.
3:10. How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies" land?
3:11. Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into h.e.l.l.
3:12. Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom:
3:13. For if thou hadst walked in the way of G.o.d, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever.
3:14. Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.
3:15. Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures?
3:16. Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?
3:17. That take their diversion with the birds of the air.
3:18. That h.o.a.rd up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable.
3:19. They are cut off, and are gone down to h.e.l.l, and others are risen up in their place.
3:20. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known,
3:21. Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face.
3:22. It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.
Theman... The capital city of Edom.
3:23. The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths.
Agar... The mother of the Ismaelites.
3:24. O Israel, how great is the house of G.o.d, and how vast is the place of his possession!
3:25. It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.
3:26. There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.
3:27. The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.
3:28. And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.
3:29. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?
3:30. Who hath pa.s.sed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?
3:31. There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths:
3:32. But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts:
3:33. He that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.
3:34. And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:
3:35. They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them.
3:36. This is our G.o.d, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.
3:37. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.
3:38. Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.
Was seen upon earth, etc... viz., by the mystery of the incarnation, by means of which the son of G.o.d came visibly amongst us, and conversed with men. The prophets often speak of things to come as if they were past, to express the certainty of the event of the things foretold.
Baruch Chapter 4
The prophet exhorts to the keeping of the law of wisdom, and encourages the people to be patient, and to hope for their deliverance.
4:1. This is the book of the commandments of G.o.d, and the law, that is for ever: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have forsaken it, to death.
4:2. Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof.
4:3. Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation.
4:4. We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to G.o.d, are made known to us.
4:5. Be of good comfort, O people of G.o.d, the memorial of Israel:
4:6. You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked G.o.d to wrath, you are delivered to your adversaries.
4:7. For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal G.o.d, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to G.o.d.
4:8. For you have forgotten G.o.d, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.
4:9. For she saw the wrath of G.o.d coming upon you, and she said: Give ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for G.o.d hath brought upon me great mourning:
4:10. For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
4:11. For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning.
4:12. Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken of many for the sins of my children, because they departed from the law of G.o.d.
4:13. And they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of G.o.d"s commandments, neither have they entered by the paths of his truth and justice.