1 Baruch 3
3:1O YAHWEH ALMIGHTY, Sovereign Master of Yisrael, the soul in anguish the troubled ruach, cries unto YOU.
3:2 Hear, O YAHWEH, and have mercy; YOU are merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before YOU.
3:3 For YOU endure forever, and we perish utterly.
3:4 O YAHWEH ALMIGHTY, Sovereign Master of Yisrael, hear now the prayers of the dead Yisraelites, and of their children, which have sinned before YOU, and not hearkened unto the voice of YOU their ALMIGHTY: for the which cause these plagues cleave unto us.
3:5 Remember not the iniquities and injustice of our forefathers: but think upon YOUR power and YOUR NAME now at this time.
3:6 For YOU are YAHWEH our ALMIGHTY, and YOU, O YAHWEH, will we praise.
3:7 And for this cause YOU have put YOUR fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon YOUR NAME, and praise YOU in our captivity: for we have called to mind all the iniquity and injustice of our forefathers, that sinned before YOU.
3:8 Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where YOU have scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments, according to all the iniquities and injustice of our fathers, which departed from YAHWEH our ALMIGHTY.
3:9 Hear, Yisrael, the commandments of Life: give ear to understand wisdom.
3:10 How happens it Yisrael, that you are in your enemies' land, that you are waxen old in a strange country, that you are defiled with the dead,
3:11 That you are counted with them that go down into the grave?
3:12 You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
3:13 For if you had walked in the way of YAHWEH, you should have dwelled in shalom forever.
3:14 Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding; that you may know also where is length of days, and Life, where is the Light of the eyes, and shalom.
3:15 Who has found out her place? Or who has come into her treasures?
3:16 Where are the princes of the heathen become, and such as ruled the beasts upon the earth;
3:17 They 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?
3:18 For they that worked in silver, and were so careful, and whose works are unsearchable,
3:19 They are vanished and gone down to the grave, and others are come up in their steads.
3:20 Young men have seen light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge have they not known,
3:21 Nor understood the paths thereof, nor laid hold of it: their children were afar off from that way.
3:22 It has not been heard of in Canaan, neither has it been seen in Theman.
3:23 The sons of Hagar that seek wisdom and understanding on the earth, the merchants of Merran and of Teman, the authors of fables, and seekers out of understanding; none of these have known the way of wisdom, or remember her paths.
3:24 O Yisrael, how great is the House of YAHWEH! and how large is the place of HIS possession!
3:25 Great, and has no end; high, and unmeasurable.
3:26 There were the giants famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and so expert in war.
3:27 Those did not YAHWEH choose, neither gave HE the way of knowledge unto them:
3:28 But they were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness.
3:29 Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?
3:30 Who has gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for pure gold?
3:31 No man knows her way, nor think of her path.
3:32 But HE that knows all things knows her, and has found her out with HIS understanding: HE that prepared the earth for evermore has filled it with fourfooted beasts:
3:33 HE that sends forth Light, and it goes, calls it again, and it obeys HIM with fear.
3:34 The stars shined in their watches, and rejoiced: when HE calls them, they say, Here we be; and so with cheerfulness they show light unto YAHWEH that made them.
3:35 This is YAHWEH our ALMIGHTY, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of HIM
3:36 HE has found out all the way of knowledge, and has given it unto Yacob HIS servant, and to Yisrael HIS beloved.
3:37 Afterward did HE show HIMSELF upon earth, and conversed with men.