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Baruch 3

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1 κύριε παντοκράτωρ ὁ θεὸς Ισραηλ ψυχὴ ἐν στενοῖς καὶ πνεῦμα ἀκηδιῶν κέκραγεν πρὸς σέ 2 ἄκουσον κύριε καὶ ἐλέησον ὅτι ἡμάρτομεν ἐναντίον σου 3 ὅτι σὺ καθήμενος τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπολλύμενοι τὸν αἰῶνα 4 κύριε παντοκράτωρ ὁ θεὸς Ισραηλ ἄκουσον δὴ τῆς προσευχῆς τῶν τεθνηκότων Ισραηλ καὶ υἱῶν τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων ἐναντίον σου οἳ οὐκ ἤκουσαν τῆς φωνῆς κυρίου θεοῦ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκολλήθη ἡμῖν τὰ κακά 5 μὴ μνησθῇς ἀδικιῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ μνήσθητι χειρός σου καὶ ὀνόματός σου ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ 6 ὅτι σὺ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν καὶ αἰνέσομέν σε κύριε 7 ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο ἔδωκας τὸν φόβον σου ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἡμῶν τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ αἰνέσομέν σε ἐν τῇ ἀποικίᾳ ἡμῶν ὅτι ἀπεστρέψαμεν ἀπὸ καρδίας ἡμῶν πᾶσαν ἀδικίαν πατέρων ἡμῶν τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων ἐναντίον σου 8 ἰδοὺ ἡμεῖς σήμερον ἐν τῇ ἀποικίᾳ ἡμῶν οὗ διέσπειρας ἡμᾶς ἐκεῖ εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ εἰς ἀρὰν καὶ εἰς ὄφλησιν κατὰ πάσας τὰς ἀδικίας πατέρων ἡμῶν οἳ ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ κυρίου θεοῦ ἡμῶν

1 Lord Almighty, God of Israel, here be lives in jeopardy, here be troubled hearts, that plead with thee! 2 Listen, Lord, and have mercy, none so merciful as thou; pardon the sins that lie open in thy sight. 3 Thou reignest for ever; must we for ever be lost? 4 Lord Almighty, God of Israel, listen to the prayer Israel makes to thee from the grave![1] Our fathers it was that defied the Lord their God, and gave no heed to him; and to us, their sons, the punishment clings. 5 Forget the wrong they did, those fathers of ours; remember thy ancient power, thy own honour, this day; 6 only to thee, the Lord our God, shall praise of ours be given. 7 Why else hast thou inspired us with such dread of thee? Thou wouldst have us learn to invoke thy name, to utter thy praise, here as exiles, in proof that we disown the wrong our fathers did, when their sins defied thee. 8 Exiles we are this day, dispersed by thee to suffer scorn and reviling, until we have made amends for all the wrong our fathers did when they abandoned thee, abandoned the Lord our God.

1

Et nunc, Domine omnipotens, Deus Israël,
anima in angustiis, et spiritus anxius clamat ad te. 2
Audi, Domine, et miserere,
quia Deus es misericors:
et miserere nostri, quia peccavimus ante te: 3
quia tu sedes in sempiternum,
et nos, peribimus in ævum? 4
Domine omnipotens, Deus Israël,
audi nunc orationem mortuorum Israël,
et filiorum ipsorum qui peccaverunt ante te,
et non audierunt vocem Domini Dei sui,
et agglutinata sunt nobis mala. 5
Noli meminisse iniquitatum patrum nostrorum,
sed memento manus tuæ et nominis tui in tempore isto: 6
quia tu es Dominus Deus noster,
et laudabimus te, Domine: 7
quia propter hoc dedisti timorem tuum in cordibus nostris,
et ut invocemus nomen tuum,
et laudemus te in captivitate nostra,
quia convertimur ab iniquitate patrum nostrorum,
qui peccaverunt ante te. 8
Et ecce nos in captivitate nostra sumus hodie,
qua nos dispersisti in improperium,
et in maledictum, et in peccatum,
secundum omnes iniquitates patrum nostrorum,
qui recesserunt a te, Domine Deus noster.

9 ἄκουε Ισραηλ ἐντολὰς ζωῆς ἐνωτίσασθε γνῶναι φρόνησιν 10 τί ἐστιν Ισραηλ τί ὅτι ἐν γῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἶ ἐπαλαιώθης ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ 11 συνεμιάνθης τοῖς νεκροῖς προσελογίσθης μετὰ τῶν εἰς ᾅδου 12 ἐγκατέλιπες τὴν πηγὴν τῆς σοφίας 13 τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰ ἐπορεύθης κατῴκεις ἂν ἐν εἰρήνῃ τὸν αἰῶνα 14 μάθε ποῦ ἐστιν φρόνησις ποῦ ἐστιν ἰσχύς ποῦ ἐστιν σύνεσις τοῦ γνῶναι ἅμα ποῦ ἐστιν μακροβίωσις καὶ ζωή ποῦ ἐστιν φῶς ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ εἰρήνη 15 τίς εὗρεν τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς καὶ τίς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὐτῆς 16 ποῦ εἰσιν οἱ ἄρχοντες τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ οἱ κυριεύοντες τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς 17 οἱ ἐν τοῖς ὀρνέοις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐμπαίζοντες καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον θησαυρίζοντες καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ᾧ ἐπεποίθεισαν ἄνθρωποι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν τέλος τῆς κτήσεως αὐτῶν 18 οἱ τὸ ἀργύριον τεκταίνοντες καὶ μεριμνῶντες καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν

9 Listen, Israel, to the warnings that shall bring thee life; give attentive audience, if thou wouldst learn to be wise. 10 What means it, Israel, that thou findest thyself in the enemy’s land, 11 grown old in exile, unclean as a dead body, no more taken into account than men who have gone down into their graves? 12 It is because thou hast forsaken the fountain whence all wisdom comes. 13 If thou hadst but followed the path God shewed thee, thou mightest have lived in peace eternally. 14 Learn where to find wisdom, and strength, and discernment; so thou wilt find length of years, too, and true life, and cheerfulness, and peace. 15 Who can tell where wisdom dwells, who has made his way into her store-house? 16 What has become of those heathen princes, who gained mastery of the beasts that roam the earth, 17 tamed the birds for their pastime; 18 heaping up silver and gold, man’s confidence, man’s interminable quest? How anxiously they toiled for wealth! And now these devices of theirs are beyond our tracing.

9

Audi, Israël, mandata vitæ:
auribus percipe, ut scias prudentiam. 10
Quid est, Israël, quod in terra inimicorum es, 11
inveterasti in terra aliena,
coinquinatus es cum mortuis,
deputatus es cum descendentibus in infernum? 12
Dereliquisti fontem sapientiæ: 13
nam si in via Dei ambulasses,
habitasses utique in pace sempiterna. 14
Disce ubi sit prudentia,
ubi sit virtus, ubi sit intellectus,
ut scias simul ubi sit longiturnitas vitæ et victus,
ubi sit lumen oculorum, et pax. 15
Quis invenit locum ejus?
et quis intravit in thesauros ejus? 16
Ubi sunt principes gentium,
et qui dominantur super bestias quæ sunt super terram? 17
qui in avibus cæli ludunt, 18
qui argentum thesaurizant, et aurum,
in quo confidunt homines,
et non est finis acquisitionis eorum?
qui argentum fabricant, et solliciti sunt,
nec est inventio operum illorum?

19 ἠφανίσθησαν καὶ εἰς ᾅδου κατέβησαν καὶ ἄλλοι ἀντανέστησαν ἀν{T'} αὐτῶν 20 νεώτεροι εἶδον φῶς καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὁδὸν δὲ ἐπιστήμης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν 21 οὐδὲ συνῆκαν τρίβους αὐτῆς οὐδὲ ἀντελάβοντο αὐτῆς οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτῶν πόρρω ἐγενήθησαν 22 οὐδὲ ἠκούσθη ἐν Χανααν οὐδὲ ὤφθη ἐν Θαιμαν 23 οὔτε υἱοὶ Αγαρ οἱ ἐκζητοῦντες τὴν σύνεσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οἱ ἔμποροι τῆς Μερραν καὶ Θαιμαν οἱ μυθολόγοι καὶ οἱ ἐκζητηταὶ τῆς συνέσεως ὁδὸν τῆς σοφίας οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οὐδὲ ἐμνήσθησαν τὰς τρίβους αὐτῆς

19 They disappeared, went to their graves, and other succeeded them; 20 a younger generation saw the light and peopled the earth in its turn; but still they could not find their way to the true wisdom, 21 the path to it was hidden still. Their children, too, clutched at it in vain, it was as far as ever from their reach. 22 In Chanaan, none had heard tell of it, in Theman none had caught sight of it; 23 even the sons of Agar, so well schooled in earthly wisdom, even the merchants of Merrha and Theman, with all their store of legend, their skill and cunning laboriously gained, never found the track of true wisdom, or told us what its haunts were.

19
Exterminati sunt, et ad inferos descenderunt,
et alii loco eorum surrexerunt. 20
Juvenes viderunt lumen, et habitaverunt super terram,
viam autem disciplinæ ignoraverunt, 21
neque intellexerunt semitas ejus,
neque filii eorum susceperunt eam:
a facie ipsorum longe facta est; 22
non est audita in terra Chanaan,
neque visa est in Theman. 23
Filii quoque Agar, qui exquirunt prudentiam quæ de terra est,
negotiatores Merrhæ et Theman,
et fabulatores, et exquisitores prudentiæ et intelligentiæ:
viam autem sapientiæ nescierunt,
neque commemorati sunt semitas ejus.

24 ὦ Ισραηλ ὡς μέγας ὁ οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπιμήκης ὁ τόπος τῆς κτήσεως αὐτοῦ 25 μέγας καὶ οὐκ ἔχει τελευτήν ὑψηλὸς καὶ ἀμέτρητος 26 ἐκεῖ ἐγεννήθησαν οἱ γίγαντες οἱ ὀνομαστοὶ οἱ ἀ{P'} ἀρχῆς γενόμενοι εὐμεγέθεις ἐπιστάμενοι πόλεμον 27 οὐ τούτους ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεὸς οὐδὲ ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς 28 καὶ ἀπώλοντο παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν φρόνησιν ἀπώλοντο διὰ τὴν ἀβουλίαν αὐτῶν

24 Israel, how wide is God’s house, how spacious is his domain, 25 large beyond all bound, high beyond all measure![2] 26 The heroes of old were nurtured there, men whose fame has come down to us from the beginning of time, huge in stature, great warriors; 27 but it was not these God had chosen; they died without ever attaining true knowledge. 28 Not for them was the possession of wisdom, and in their folly they perished.

24
O Israël, quam magna est domus Dei,
et ingens locus possessionis ejus! 25
magnus est, et non habet finem:
excelsus, et immensus. 26
Ibi fuerunt gigantes nominati illi, qui ab initio fuerunt,
statura magna, scientes bellum. 27
Non hos elegit Dominus,
neque viam disciplinæ invenerunt:
propterea perierunt, 28
et quoniam non habuerunt sapientiam,
interierunt propter suam insipientiam.

29 τίς ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν καὶ κατεβίβασεν αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν νεφελῶν 30 τίς διέβη πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ εὗρεν αὐτὴν καὶ οἴσει αὐτὴν χρυσίου ἐκλεκτοῦ 31 οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ γινώσκων τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτῆς οὐδὲ ὁ ἐνθυμούμενος τὴν τρίβον αὐτῆς 32 ἀλλὰ ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα γινώσκει αὐτήν ἐξεῦρεν αὐτὴν τῇ συνέσει αὐτοῦ ὁ κατασκευάσας τὴν γῆν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον ἐνέπλησεν αὐτὴν κτηνῶν τετραπόδων 33 ὁ ἀποστέλλων τὸ φῶς καὶ πορεύεται ἐκάλεσεν αὐτό καὶ ὑπήκουσεν αὐτῷ τρόμῳ 34 οἱ δὲ ἀστέρες ἔλαμψαν ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς αὐτῶν καὶ εὐφράνθησαν 35 ἐκάλεσεν αὐτοὺς καὶ εἶπον πάρεσμεν ἔλαμψαν με{T'} εὐφροσύνης τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτούς 36 οὗτος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν 37 ἐξεῦρεν πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν Ιακωβ τῷ παιδὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ισραηλ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ὑ{P'} αὐτοῦ 38 μετὰ τοῦτο ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη

29 What man ever scaled heaven, gained wisdom there, and brought it back from the clouds? 30 What man ever crossed the sea, and found it there, brought it back like a cargo of pure gold? 31 The path to it none may know, the clue of it none may find. 32 Only he who knows all things possesses it, only his mind conceives it. He it is who framed the abiding earth, and filled it with cattle and four-footed beasts of every kind. 33 It is on his errand that the light goes forth, his summons that it obeys with awe; 34 joyfully the stars shine out, keeping the watches he has appointed, 35 answer when he calls their muster-roll, and offer their glad radiance to him who fashioned them. 36 Such a God is ours; what rival will be compared to him? 37 He it is who has the key to all knowledge, and gave it to his servant Jacob, to the well-loved race of Israel; 38 not till then would he reveal himself on earth, and hold converse with mortal men.

29
Quis ascendit in cælum, et accepit eam,
et eduxit eam de nubibus? 30
Quis transfretavit mare, et invenit illam, et attulit illam super aurum electum? 31
Non est qui possit scire vias ejus,
neque qui exquirat semitas ejus: 32
sed qui scit universa novit eam,
et adinvenit eam prudentia sua
qui præparavit terram in æterno tempore:
et replevit eam pecudibus et quadrupedibus 33
qui emittit lumen, et vadit,
et vocavit illud, et obedit illi in tremore. 34
Stellæ autem dederunt lumen in custodiis suis,
et lætatæ sunt: 35
vocatæ sunt, et dixerunt: Adsumus,
et luxerunt ei cum jucunditate, qui fecit illas. 36
Hic est Deus noster,
et non æstimabitur alius adversus eum. 37
Hic adinvenit omnem viam disciplinæ,
et tradidit illam Jacob puero suo,
et Israël dilecto suo. 38
Post hæc in terris visus est,
et cum hominibus conversatus est.

[1] Literally, ‘the prayer of the dead of Israel’. Some think this refers to prayer offered by the dead on behalf of the living; others, that the race of Israel is, by a metaphor, described as ‘dead’; others, that the Hebrew text had simply ‘the folk of Israel’, and that the Greek translator, having no vowel-points to guide him, was deceived by the identical form of the two words.

[2] v. 24 sqq. God’s ‘house’ is usually identified as creation generally. But it must be confessed that this reference to the giants (Gen. 6.4) belongs to a stream of tradition about which we know little.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd