Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical books: Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, Maccabees, ...)

Now therefore bless ye the God of all, which only doeth wondrous things every where, which exalteth our days from the womb, and dealeth with us according to his mercy.

He grant us joyfulness of heart, and that peace may be in our days in Israel for ever:

That he would confirm his mercy with us, and deliver us at his time!

There be two manner of nations which my heart abhorreth, and the third is no nation:

They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and they that dwell among the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem.

Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem hath written in this book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, who out of his heart poured forth wisdom.

Blessed is he that shall be exercised in these things; and he that layeth them up in his heart shall become wise.

For if he do them, he shall be strong to all things: for the light of the Lord leadeth him, who giveth wisdom to the godly. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. Amen, Amen. [A Prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach.]

I will thank thee, O Lord and King, and praise thee, O God my Saviour: I do give praise unto thy name:

For thou art my defender and helper, and has preserved my body from destruction, and from the snare of the slanderous tongue, and from the lips that forge lies, and has been mine helper against mine adversaries:

And hast delivered me, according to the multitude of thy mercies and greatness of thy name, from the teeth of them that were ready to devour me, and out of the hands of such as sought after my life, and from the manifold afflictions which I had;

From the choking of fire on every side, and from the midst of the fire which I kindled not;

From the depth of the belly of hell, from an unclean tongue, and from lying words.

By an accusation to the king from an unrighteous tongue my soul drew near even unto death, my life was near to the hell beneath.

They compassed me on every side, and there was no man to help me: I looked for the succour of men, but there was none.

Then thought I upon thy mercy, O Lord, and upon thy acts of old, how thou deliverest such as wait for thee, and savest them out of the hands of the enemies.

Then lifted I up my supplications from the earth, and prayed for deliverance from death.

I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that he would not leave me in the days of my trouble, and in the time of the proud, when there was no help.

I will praise thy name continually, and will sing praises with thanksgiving; and so my prayer was heard:

For thou savedst me from destruction, and deliveredst me from the evil time: therefore will I give thanks, and praise thee, and bless thy name, O Lord.

When I was yet young, or ever I went abroad, I desired wisdom openly in my prayer.

I prayed for her before the temple, and will seek her out even to the end.

Even from the flower till the grape was ripe hath my heart delighted in her: my foot went the right way, from my youth up sought I after her.

I bowed down mine ear a little, and received her, and gat much learning.

I profited therein, therefore will I ascribe glory unto him that giveth me wisdom.

For I purposed to do after her, and earnestly I followed that which is good; so shall I not be confounded.

My soul hath wrestled with her, and in my doings I was exact: I stretched forth my hands to the heaven above, and bewailed my ignorances of her.

I directed my soul unto her, and I found her in pureness: I have had my heart joined with her from the beginning, therefore shall I not be foresaken.

My heart was troubled in seeking her: therefore have I gotten a good possession.

The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward, and I will praise him therewith.

Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in the house of learning.

Wherefore are ye slow, and what say ye to these things, seeing your souls are very thirsty?

I opened my mouth, and said, Buy her for yourselves without money.

Put your neck under the yoke, and let your soul receive instruction: she is hard at hand to find.

Behold with your eyes, how that I have but little labour, and have gotten unto me much rest.

Get learning with a great sum of money, and get much gold by her.

Let your soul rejoice in his mercy, and be not ashamed of his praise.

Work your work betimes, and in his time he will give you your reward.

And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Asadias, the son of Chelcias, wrote in Babylon,

In the fifth year, and in the seventh day of the month, what time as the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.

And Baruch did read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joachim king of Juda, and in the ears of all the people that came to hear the book,

And in the hearing of the nobles, and of the king’s sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and of all the people, from the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon by the river Sud.

Whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord.

They made also a collection of money according to every man’s power:

And they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest, the son of Chelcias, son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem,

At the same time when he received the vessels of the house of the Lord, that were carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month Sivan, namely, silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Jada had made,

After that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and the captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought them unto Babylon.

And they said, Behold, we have sent you money to buy you burnt offerings, and sin offerings, and incense, and prepare ye manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God;

And pray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven:

And the Lord will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we shall live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and find favour in their sight.

Pray for us also unto the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God; and unto this day the fury of the Lord and his wrath is not turned from us.

And ye shall read this book which we have sent unto you, to make confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and solemn days.

And ye shall say, To the Lord our God belongeth righteousness, but unto us the confusion of faces, as it is come to pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

And to our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers:

For we have sinned before the Lord,

And disobeyed him, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the commandments that he gave us openly:

Since the day that the Lord brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, unto this present day, we have been disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not hearing his voice.

Wherefore the evils cleaved unto us, and the curse, which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milk and honey, like as it is to see this day.

Nevertheless we have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, according unto all the words of the prophets, whom he sent unto us:

But every man followed the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

Therefore the Lord hath made good his word, which he pronounced against us, and against our judges that judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Juda,

To bring upon us great plagues, such as never happened under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that were written in the law of Moses;

That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter.

Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are round about us, to be as a reproach and desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them.

Thus we were cast down, and not exalted, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, and have not been obedient unto his voice.

To the Lord our God appertaineth righteousness: but unto us and to our fathers open shame, as appeareth this day.

For all these plagues are come upon us, which the Lord hath pronounced against us

Yet have we not prayed before the Lord, that we might turn every one from the imaginations of his wicked heart.

Wherefore the Lord watched over us for evil, and the Lord hath brought it upon us: for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he hath commanded us.

Yet we have not hearkened unto his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord, that he hath set before us.

And now, O Lord God of Israel, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and high arm, and with signs, and with wonders, and with great power, and hast gotten thyself a name, as appeareth this day:

O Lord our God, we have sinned, we have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all thine ordinances.

Let thy wrath turn from us: for we are but a few left among the heathen, where thou hast scattered us.

Hear our prayers, O Lord, and our petitions, and deliver us for thine own sake, and give us favour in the sight of them which have led us away:

That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, because Israel and his posterity is called by thy name.

O Lord, look down from thine holy house, and consider us: bow down thine ear, O Lord, to hear us.

Open thine eyes, and behold; for the dead that are in the graves, whose souls are taken from their bodies, will give unto the Lord neither praise nor righteousness:

But the soul that is greatly vexed, which goeth stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will give thee praise and righteousness, O Lord.

Therefore we do not make our humble supplication before thee, O Lord our God, for the righteousness of our fathers, and of our kings.

For thou hast sent out thy wrath and indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by thy servants the prophets, saying,

Thus saith the Lord, Bow down your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon: so shall ye remain in the land that I gave unto your fathers.

But if ye will not hear the voice of the Lord, to serve the king of Babylon,

I will cause to cease out of the cites of Judah, and from without Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: and the whole land shall be desolate of inhabitants.

But we would not hearken unto thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: therefore hast thou made good the words that thou spakest by thy servants the prophets, namely, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers, should be taken out of their place.

And, lo, they are cast out to the heat of the day, and to the frost of the night, and they died in great miseries by famine, by sword, and by pestilence.

And the house which is called by thy name hast thou laid waste, as it is to be seen this day, for the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Juda.

O Lord our God, thou hast dealt with us after all thy goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine,

As thou spakest by thy servant Moses in the day when thou didst command him to write the law before the children of Israel, saying,

If ye will not hear my voice, surely this very great multitude shall be turned into a small number among the nations, where I will scatter them.

For I knew that they would not hear me, because it is a stiffnecked people: but in the land of their captivities they shall remember themselves.

And shall know that I am the Lord their God: for I will give them an heart, and ears to hear:

And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and think upon my name,

And return from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, which sinned before the Lord.

And I will bring them again into the land which I promised with an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be lords of it: and I will increase them, and they shall not be diminished.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will no more drive my people of Israel out of the land that I have given them.

O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish the troubled spirit, crieth unto thee.

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; as thou art merciful: and have pity upon us, because we have sinned before thee.

For thou endurest for ever, and we perish utterly.

O Lord Almighty, thou God of Israel, hear now the prayers of the dead Israelites, and of their children, which have sinned before thee, and not hearkened unto the voice of thee their God: for the which cause these plagues cleave unto us.

Remember not the iniquities of our forefathers: but think upon thy power and thy name now at this time.