Lost Books of the Bible (166 page)

58: He has shut the sea in the midst of the waters, and with his word has he hanged the earth upon the waters.

59: He spreads out the heavens like a vault; upon the waters has he founded it.

60: In the desert has he made springs of water, and pools upon the tops of the mountains, that the floods might pour down from the high rocks to water the earth.

61: He made man, and put his heart in the midst of the body, and gave him breath, life, and understanding.

62: Yea and the Spirit of Almighty God, which made all things, and searches out all hidden things in the secrets of the earth,

63: Surely he knows your inventions, and what you think in your hearts, even them that sin, and would hide their sin.

64: Therefore has the Lord exactly searched out all your works, and he will put you all to shame.

65: And when your sins are brought forth, you will be ashamed before men, and your own sins will be your accusers in that day.

66: What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins before God and his angels?

67: Behold, God himself is the judge, fear him. Leave off from your sins, and forget your iniquities, to meddle no more with them for ever; so will God lead you forth, and deliver you from all trouble.

68: For, behold, the burning rage of a great multitude is kindled over you, and they will take away certain of you, and feed you, being idle, with things offered to idols.

69: And they that consent to them will be had in derision and in reproach, and trodden under foot.

70: For there will be in every place, and in the next cities, a great insurrection upon those that fear the Lord.

71: They will be like mad men, sparing none, but still spoiling and destroying those that fear the Lord.

72: For they will waste and take away their goods, and cast them out of their houses.

73: Then will they be known, who are my chosen; and they will be tried as the gold in the fire.

74: Hear, O you my beloved, says the Lord, behold, the days of trouble are at hand, but I will deliver you from the same.

75: Be you not afraid neither doubt; for God is your guide,

76: And the guide of them who keep my commandments and precepts, says the Lord God. Let not your sins weigh you down, and let not your iniquities lift up themselves.

77: Woe be to them that are bound with their sins, and covered with their iniquities like as a field is covered over with bushes, and the path thereof covered with thorns, that no man may travel through!

78: It is left undressed, and is cast into the fire to be consumed therewith.

               2 Baruch is also known as the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch. It is part of the Jewish pseudepigraphical. It is a text written in the late first to early second century, after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 AD.

               It is not part of the canon of either the Jewish or "Western" Christian Bibles but is part of the Syriac Bible. Syriac Christianity is a distinctive and separate  family. It is propagated in part by the Syriac language and culture as part of Near Eastern Christianity. The Aramaic origins borrowed much from early  Judaism and Mesopotamian culture.  As Christianity grew and was defined more with the Greek and Latin cultures and tongues, Syriac Christianity was  persecuted.

               2 Baruch is similar to Jeremiah. The lamentations and anguish seen within the text are attributed to a reaction to the fall of Jerusalem, and particularly the Temple in Jerusalem. According to the text, the Temple’s sacred objects were rescued from destruction by angels, and await the temple’s rebuilding.

               The catastrophe of the Temple destruction caused the Jews to question their faith and their place in God’s divine plan. The plundering and desecration of the temple by gentiles was tantamount to God’s rejection of the Jews and called into question the very foundations of their faith.

               If a religion holds that God’s hand is in all things then one must resolves the question of why an omnipotent God allowed the destruction of his own temple, or the temple belonging to His people.

               2 Baruch attempts to answer this question as it promises a Messiah (Anointed One) who will end the sinful ways and dominance of the heathens and re-establish the Jews as God’s chosen people.  Those who are truly called will be the righteous Jews who follow the Torah and its teachings.

               The text presented below is a modern rendition based in part on R. H. Charles’ work done in the early 1900’s. Chapter and verse divisions have been redefined to provide more logical separations. Modern wording has replaced the more archaic phrasing in the text.  The result was then compared to other authoritative works and the translation modified to provide the most accurate version possible.

2 Baruch

Chapter 1

 1 And it happened in the twenty-fifth year of Jeconiah, king of Judah, that the word of the Lord came to Baruch, the son of Neriah, and said to him:

2  Have you seen all that this nation (people) are doing to Me, that the evils which these two tribes which remained have done are greater than (those of) the ten tribes which were carried away captive?

3 For the former tribes were forced by their kings to commit sin, but these two of themselves have been forcing and compelling their kings to commit sin.

4 For this reason, I bring evil upon this city, and upon its inhabitants, and it will be removed from before Me for a time, and I will scatter these people among the Gentiles that they may do good to the Gentiles. And My people will be chastened, and the time will come when they will seek the prosperity of this period (their times.)

Chapter 2

1 For I have said these things to you that you may tell Jeremiah, and all those that are like you, to leave this city.

2 For your works are to this city as a firm pillar, and your prayers as a strong wall.

Chapter 3

1 And I said: O Lord, my Lord, have I come into the world for this purpose that I might see the evils of my mother?

2 Not so, my Lord. If I have found grace in Your sight, first take my spirit that I may go to my father’s and not witness the destruction of my mother.

3 For two things vehemently constrain me: for I cannot resist You, and my soul cannot behold the evils of my mother.

4 But one thing I will ask in Your presence, O Lord.

5 What will there be after these things? If You destroy Your city and deliver up Your land to those that hate us, how will the name of Israel be remembered?

6 Or how will one speak of Your praises?

7 Or to whom will  Your law be explained and all things therein?

8 Or will the world return to the nature it had before, and the age revert to primeval silence?

9 And will the multitude of souls be taken away,  and the nature of man not again be named? And where is all that which You said to Moses regarding us?

Chapter 4

1 And the Lord said to me: This city will be delivered up for a time, and the people will be chastened during a time, And the world will not be given over to oblivion.

2 Do you think that this is that city of which I said: On the palms of My hands have I graven  you?

3 This building now built in your midst is not that which is revealed with Me, that which was prepared beforehand here from the time when I took counsel to make Paradise, and showed it to Adam before he sinned, but when he transgressed the commandment it was removed from him, as also Paradise.

4 And after these things I showed it to My servant Abraham by night among the allotted victims.

5 And again also I showed it to Moses on Mount Sinai when I showed him the likeness of the tabernacle and all its vessels.

6 And now, behold, it is preserved with Me, as also is Paradise.

7 Go, therefore, and do as I command you.”

Chapter 5

1 And I answered and said: So then I am destined to grieve for Zion, For your enemies will come to this place and pollute your sanctuary, and lead your inheritance into captivity; And make themselves masters of those whom You have loved. They will depart again to the place of their idols, and will boast before them: And what will You do for Your great name?

2 And the Lord said to me: My name and My glory are to all eternity; And My judgment will maintain its right in its own time.

3 You will see with your eyes that the enemy will not overthrow Zion, nor will they burn Jerusalem, but be the ministers of the Judge for the time.

4 Now go and do what I have said to you.

5 And I went and took Jeremiah, and Adu, and Seriah, and Jabish, and Gedaliah, and all the honorable men of the people, and I led them to the valley of Cedron, and I explained to them all that had been said to me.

7 And they lifted up their voices, and they all wept.

8 And we sat there and fasted until the evening.

Chapter 6

1 And it came to pass the next day that the army of the Chaldees surrounded the city, and at the time of the evening, I, Baruch, left the people and I went out and stood by the oak.

2 And I was grieving over Zion, and lamenting over the captivity which had come upon the people.

3 Suddenly a strong spirit raised me, and carried me aloft over the wall of Jerusalem.

4 And I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the city, each of them holding a torch of fire in his hands.

5 And another angel began to descend from heaven, and said to them: Hold your lamps, and do not light them till I tell you.

6 For I am first sent to speak a word to the earth, and to place in it what the Lord the Most High has commanded me.

7 And I saw him descend into the Holy of holies, and take from there the veil, and the holy ark, and the mercy-seat, and the two tables, and the holy raiment of the priests, and the altar of incense, and the forty-eight precious stones, wherewith the priest was adorned and all the holy vessels of the tabernacle.

8 And he spoke to the earth with a loud voice: Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the mighty God, And receive what I commit to you, And guard them until the last times so that when you are ordered you may restore them, so that strangers may not get possession of them.

9 For the time comes when Jerusalem also will be delivered for a time, until it is said, that it is again restored for ever.

10 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.

Chapter 7

1 And after these things I heard that angel saying to those angels who held the lamps. Destroy it and overthrow its wall to its foundations so that the enemy should not boast and say: We have overthrown the wall of Zion, and we have burnt the place of the mighty God.

2 And you have seized the place where I had been standing before.