The prayer of exiles
1These are the words of the book written by Baruch, the son of Neriah, descended from Massiah, from Sedekiah, from Hasadiah, from Hilkiah. 2They were written in the fifth year, on the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans had taken Jerusalem and burned it.
3Baruch read the words of this book to Jeconiah, the son of Joachim, the king of Judah, in the presence of all the people who had come together to hear it read. 4He read it in the hearing of the nobles and the king’s sons, of the elders and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest – that is, all those who were living in Babylon near the River Sudi.
5Then the people wept and fasted and prayed before the Lord. 6They also collected money according to what each one could afford 7and this they sent to Jerusalem, to the priest Jehoiakim, son of Hil kiah, the son of Shallum, and to the other priests and people who dwelt in Jerusalem with him. 8This same Baruch had undertaken to carry back to Judea, on the tenth day of the month of Sivan, the sacred vessels which had been taken away from the Temple of the Lord. These were the silver vessels made by Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, 9after Ne buchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried off Jeconiah, the artisans, the nobles and the people of the land and had taken them captive to Babylon.
10The letter said: Look, we are sending you money; buy with it victims for the holocaust and for sin offerings and in cense; prepare oblations and offer them on the Altar of the Lord our God. 11Pray for the life of Nebu chadnezzar, king of Babylon, and of Balthasar, his son, so that they may be successful in all that they do. 12Thus the Lord will give strength and light to our eyes. We will live under the protection of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and of his son, Balthasar. We shall have a long life serving them and we shall find favor before them.
13Pray to the Lord our God for us also, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, even to this day the anger of the Lord and his fury have not been turned away from us. 14Finally, read this book which we are sending to you, so that you can read it publicly in the House of the Lord on the day of the Feast and on other suitable days.
15You will say: May everyone recognize the justice of our God but, on this day, shame and confusion befit the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem – 16our kings and princes, our priests, our prophets, and our fathers, 17because we have sinned before the Lord. 18We have disobeyed him and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, nor have we followed the commandments which the Lord had put before us. 19From the day that the Lord brought our ancestors out of the land of Egypt until this day, we have disobeyed the Lord our God and we have rebelled against him instead of listening to his voice.
20Because of this, from the day on which the Lord brought our ancestors out of the land of Egypt, so as to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the evils and the curse which the Lord pronounced by Moses, his servant, have dogged our footsteps right down to the present day. 21We did not listen to the voice of the Lord our God speaking through the words of the prophets whom he sent to us, 22but each one of us followed his perverted heart, serving false gods and doing what displeases the Lord our God.
