The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

And we are brought under, and are not uppermost: because we have sinned against the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice.

To the Lord our God belongeth justice: but to us, and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day.

For the Lord hath pronounced against us all these evils that are come upon us:

And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, that we might return every one of us from our most wicked ways.

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

And we have not hearkened to his voice to walk in the commandments of the Lord which he hath set before us.

And now, O Lord God of Israel, who hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with thy great power, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a name as at this day,

We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all thy justices.

Let thy wrath be turned away from us: for we are left a few among the nations where thou hast scattered us.

Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our petitions, and deliver us for thy own sake: and grant that we may find favour in the sight of them that have led us away:

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

Look down upon us, O Lord, from thy holy house, and incline thy ear, and hear us.

Open thy eyes, and behold: for the dead that are in hell, whose spirit is taken away from their bowels, shall not give glory and justice to the Lord:

But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil she hath done, and goeth bowed down, and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul giveth glory and justice to thee the Lord.

For it is not for the justices of our fathers that we pour out our prayers, and beg mercy in thy sight, O Lord our God:

But because thou hast sent out thy wrath, and thy indignation upon us, as thou hast spoken by the hand of thy servants the prophets, saying:

Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoulder, and your neck, and serve the king of Babylon: and you shall remain in the land which I have given to your fathers.

But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon: I will cause you to depart out of the cities of Juda, and from without Jerusalem.

And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, and all the land shall be without any footstep of inhabitants.

And they hearkened not to thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spokest by the hands of thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be removed out of their place:

And behold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine, and by the sword, and in banishment.

And thou hast made the temple, in which thy name was called upon, as it is at this day, for the iniquity of the house of Israel, and the house of Juda.

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

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

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

For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity:

And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear.

And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall be mindful of my name.

And they shall turn away themselves from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, that sinned against me.

And I will bring them back again into the land which I promised with an oath to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be masters thereof: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished.

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

And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee:

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee.

For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly?

O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the dead of Israel, and of their children, that have sinned before thee, and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, wherefore evils have cleaved fast to us.

Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time:

For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:

Because for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee.

And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord our God.

Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom.

How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies' land?

Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell.

Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom:

For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever.

Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.

Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures?

Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?

That take their diversion with the birds of the air.

That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their works are unsearchable.

They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen up in their place.

Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge they have not known,

Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their children received it, it is far from their face.

It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman.

The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths.

O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!

It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.

There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.

The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.

And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.

Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?

There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths:

But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts:

He that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.

And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:

They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them.

This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.

He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved.

Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.

This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, that is for ever: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have forsaken it, to death.

Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its brightness, in the presence of the light thereof.

Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange nation.

We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to God, are made known to us.

Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel:

You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but because you provoked God to wrath, you are delivered to your adversaries.

For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering sacrifice to devils, and not to God.

For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.

For she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, and she said: Give ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for God hath brought upon me great mourning:

For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.

For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning.

Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken of many for the sins of my children, because they departed from the law of God.

And they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of God's commandments, neither have they entered by the paths of his truth and justice.

Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.

For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked nation, and of a strange tongue:

Who have neither reverenced the ancient, nor pitied children, and have carried away the beloved of the widow, and have left me all alone without children.

But as for me, what help can I give you?

But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you out of the hands of your enemies.

Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone.

I have put off the robe of peace, and have put upon me the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the most High in my days.

Be of good comfort, my children, cry to the Lord, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the princes your enemies.

For my hope is in the Eternal that he will save you: and joy is come upon me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall come to you from our everlasting Saviour.

For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.

For as the neighbours of Sion have now seen your captivity from God: so shall they also shortly see your salvation from God, which shall come upon you with great honour, and everlasting glory.

My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you: for thy enemy hath persecuted thee, but thou shalt quickly see his destruction: and thou shalt get up upon his neck.

My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away as a flock made a prey by the enemies.

Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by him that hath led you away.

For as it was your mind to go astray from God; so when you return again you shall seek him ten times as much.

For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.

Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named thee.

The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished.