Baruch, 6

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0. A copy of the letter which Jeremiah sent to those who were to be taken captive to Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to let them know what God had ordered him.

1. A copy of an epistle, which Jeremy sent unto them which were to be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to certify them, as it was commanded him of God.

1. "Because of the sins you have committed against God, you will be led captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians.

2. Because of the sins which ye have committed before God, ye shall be led away captives into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor king of the Babylonians.

2. After your arrival in Babylon you will remain there for a number of years - a long time, for seven generations; but after that I shall bring you home in peace.

3. So when ye be come unto Babylon, ye shall remain there many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations: and after that I will bring you away peaceably from thence.

3. In Babylon you will see gods of silver, gold and wood, carried on men's shoulders and filling the people with fear.

4. Now shall ye see in Babylon gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood, borne upon shoulders, which cause the nations to fear.

4. Take care not to copy what foreigners do and not to let yourselves be terrified by them

5. Beware therefore that ye in no wise be like to strangers, neither be ye and of them, when ye see the multitude before them and behind them, worshipping them.

5. when you see the crowds pressing in front and behind to adore them.

6. But say ye in your hearts, O Lord, we must worship thee.

6. Say rather to yourselves: 'Master, it is you we are to adore.' My angel is with you to take care of your lives.

7. For mine angel is with you, and I myself caring for your souls.

7. Their tongues have been polished by a craftsman and even if they are of gold and silver, they are false and are unable to speak.

8. As for their tongue, it is polished by the workman, and they themselves are gilded and laid over with silver; yet are they but false, and cannot speak.

8. As for a maiden conscious of her appearance, these pagans make golden crowns for their gods.

9. And taking gold, as it were for a virgin that loveth to go gay, they make crowns for the heads of their gods.

9. Yet at times the priests steal the gold and silver from their gods for their own use and for the prostitutes in their temples.

10. Sometimes also the priests convey from their gods gold and silver, and bestow it upon themselves.

10. They give clothes to these gods as if they were men, but they are only things of gold, silver and wood, which cannot defend themselves from rust or woodworm.

11. Yea, they will give thereof to the common harlots, and deck them as men with garments, [being] gods of silver, and gods of gold, and wood.

11. So, after clothing them in purple, they wipe their faces because of the thick dust of the temple that covers them.

12. Yet cannot these gods save themselves from rust and moth, though they be covered with purple raiment.

12. The god has a scepter like a governor of a province, but he cannot destroy the person who has wronged him.

13. They wipe their faces because of the dust of the temple, when there is much upon them.

13. He carries sword and axe in his right hand, but he is helpless both in war and against thieves.

14. And he that cannot put to death one that offendeth him holdeth a sceptre, as though he were a judge of the country.

14. This clearly proves they are not gods; have no fear of them.

15. He hath also in his right hand a dagger and an ax: but cannot deliver himself from war and thieves.

15. A broken pot is useless for anyone. So are those gods enshrined in their temples.

16. Whereby they are known not to be gods: therefore fear them not.

16. Their eyes are full of the dust raised by those who enter.

17. For like as a vessel that a man useth is nothing worth when it is broken; even so it is with their gods: when they be set up in the temple, their eyes be full of dust through the feet of them that come in.

17. Just as doors are carefully closed on a man who has offended the king or on a convict sentenced to death, in the same way the priests lock and bolt the doors of the temple for fear of thieves.

18. And as the doors are made sure on every side upon him that offendeth the king, as being committed to suffer death: even so the priests make fast their temples with doors, with locks, and bars, lest their gods be spoiled with robbers.

18. They light lamps, far more numerous than what they need for themselves, and yet the god sees no one.

19. They light them candles, yea, more than for themselves, whereof they cannot see one.

19. He is no more than any of the beams of the temple and some whisper that the inner part is gnawed by termites; worms out of the ground devour both the god and his clothes, but he feels nothing.

20. They are as one of the beams of the temple, yet they say their hearts are gnawed upon by things creeping out of the earth; and when they eat them and their clothes, they feel it not.

20. Their faces have become black because of the smoke of the temple.

21. Their faces are blacked through the smoke that cometh out of the temple.

21. Owls alight on their heads and shoulders, swallows and other birds perch on them and cats prowl around them.

22. Upon their bodies and heads sit bats, swallows, and birds, and the cats also.

22. This tells you they are not gods, so have no fear of them.

23. By this ye may know that they are no gods: therefore fear them not.

23. If the rust on the gold that adorns them is not removed, they cannot shine. Yet what does it matter? Even when they were cast they felt nothing.

24. Notwithstanding the gold that is about them to make them beautiful, except they wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten did they feel it.

24. They may be bought at a high price but there is not a breath of life in them.

25. The things wherein there is no breath are bought for a most high price.

25. As they are without feet, they are carried on men's shoulders, showing publicly their shame. What a confusion for their worshipers if the god falls! They must lift him up.

26. They are borne upon shoulders, having no feet whereby they declare unto men that they be nothing worth.

26. Once he has been stood up, he does not move. If tilted, he is helpless to straighten up. So you make offerings to these gods as you make to dead men.

27. They also that serve them are ashamed: for if they fall to the ground at any time, they cannot rise up again of themselves: neither, if one set them upright, can they move of themselves: neither, if they be bowed down, can they make themselves straight: but they set gifts before them as unto dead men.

27. The priests collect what has been offered for sacrifice, selling it, while the wives salt some of it but give nothing to the poor and helpless. Do you think these are true offerings? Even women giving birth or who are ritually unclean touch them.

28. As for the things that are sacrificed unto them, their priests sell and abuse; in like manner their wives lay up part thereof in salt; but unto the poor and impotent they give nothing of it.

28. See that they are not gods and have no fear of them.

29. Menstruous women and women in childbed eat their sacrifices: by these things ye may know that they are no gods: fear them not.

29. How can they be called gods? Women carry offerings to things made of silver, wood and gold.

30. For how can they be called gods? because women set meat before the gods of silver, gold, and wood.

30. The priests remain seated in the temple, their garments torn, head and beard shaved, and no covering on their heads.

31. And the priests sit in their temples, having their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads.

31. They roar and cry in the presence of their gods as do certain people during funeral meals.

32. They roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead.

32. With the garments taken from the gods the priests clothe their wives and their children.

33. The priests also take off their garments, and clothe their wives and children.

33. Whether they are treated well or shabbily, the gods can make no return, neither can they make or unmake a king.

34. Whether it be evil that one doeth unto them, or good, they are not able to recompense it: they can neither set up a king, nor put him down.

34. They are incapable of bestowing riches or money. If someone fails to keep a vow, he is not called to account.

35. In like manner, they can neither give riches nor money: though a man make a vow unto them, and keep it not, they will not require it.

35. They can neither save a man from death nor rescue a helpless person from the clutch of the powerful.

36. They can save no man from death, neither deliver the weak from the mighty.

36. They cannot restore sight to the blind or save someone in distress.

37. They cannot restore a blind man to his sight, nor help any man in his distress.

37. They will show no compassion to the widow nor do good to the orphan.

38. They can shew no mercy to the widow, nor do good to the fatherless.

38. These pieces of wood plated with gold and silver are no more worthy than rocks hewn out of a mountain and their worshipers shall be humiliated.

39. Their gods of wood, and which are overlaid with gold and silver, are like the stones that be hewn out of the mountain: they that worship them shall be confounded.

39. How then can anyone believe they are gods? How can they be called gods?

40. How should a man then think and say that they are gods, when even the Chaldeans themselves dishonour them?

40. The Chaldeans themselves have put them to shame. If they see someone who is dumb, unable to speak, they bring him before Bel, entreating him to make him speak, as if the god could hear them!

41. Who if they shall see one dumb that cannot speak, they bring him, and intreat Bel that he may speak, as though he were able to understand.

41. And yet these thinking people are unable to abandon gods that are completely devoid of sense.

42. Yet they cannot understand this themselves, and leave them: for they have no knowledge.

42. Women with cord round their waists sit in the street burning bran.

43. The women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for perfume: but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproacheth her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken.

43. When one of them has been picked up by a passerby and has slept with him, she taunts her companion for not having been so highly regarded as herself and for failing to have her cord broken.

44. Whatsoever is done among them is false: how may it then be thought or said that they are gods?

44. All that goes on anywhere near these gods is false. How can they be considered or declared to be gods?

45. They are made of carpenters and goldsmiths: they can be nothing else than the workmen will have them to be.

45. They have been fashioned by craftsmen and goldsmiths; they are nothing more than what the artisans decided they were to be.

46. And they themselves that made them can never continue long; how should then the things that are made of them be gods?

46. Those who made them haven't long to live; so how could the work of their hands be gods?

47. For they left lies and reproaches to them that come after.

47. What they leave to their descendants is nothing more than illusion and shame.

48. For when there cometh any war or plague upon them, the priests consult with themselves, where they may be hidden with them.

48. For when war or other disasters come upon them, they discuss among themselves where they, with their gods, will hide.

49. How then cannot men perceive that they be no gods, which can neither save themselves from war, nor from plague?

49. How could anyone fail to be convinced that what cannot save from war and disaster is not a god?

50. For seeing they be but of wood, and overlaid with silver and gold, it shall be known hereafter that they are false:

50. Later on, these pieces of wood plated with silver and gold will be known to be false. It will be plain to all kings and nations that they are not gods, but merely the handicraft of men and God does nothing through them.

51. And it shall manifestly appear to all nations and kings that they are no gods, but the works of men's hands, and that there is no work of God in them.

51. Is there anyone unconvinced that these are not gods?

52. Who then may not know that they are no gods?

52. They are incapable of establishing a king in a country or of sending rain to people.

53. For neither can they set up a king in the land, nor give rain unto men.

53. They are unable to discern what is just or to rescue a person who has been wronged. They are as helpless as crows between the sky and the ground.

54. Neither can they judge their own cause, nor redress a wrong, being unable: for they are as crows between heaven and earth.

54. When fire breaks out in the temple of these wooden gods plated with silver and gold, the priests flee to safety but their gods are burnt with the beams in the midst of the flames.

55. Whereupon when fire falleth upon the house of gods of wood, or laid over with gold or silver, their priests will flee away, and escape; but they themselves shall be burned asunder like beams.

55. They can neither resist a king nor a hostile army.

56. Moreover they cannot withstand any king or enemies: how can it then be thought or said that they be gods?

56. How can it be admitted or believed that they are gods?

57. Neither are those gods of wood, and laid over with silver or gold, able to escape either from thieves or robbers.

57. These gods cannot escape either from thieves or brigands. These are more powerful and despoil them of their gold, their silver and their robes. Such gods are unable to defend themselves.

58. Whose gold, and silver, and garments wherewith they are clothed, they that are strong take, and go away withal: neither are they able to help themselves.

58. Better to be a king with a show of power, or even a household pot that is of some use to its owner than to be a false god; better even to be the door of a house that guards what is within, or a wooden column in a royal palace than to be a false god.

59. Therefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power, or else a profitable vessel in an house, which the owner shall have use of, than such false gods; or to be a door in an house, to keep such things therein, than such false gods. or a pillar of wood in a a palace, than such false gods.

59. The sun, moon and stars that shine and serve us are obedient to God;

60. For sun, moon, and stars, being bright and sent to do their offices, are obedient.

60. likewise the lightning that is beautiful to see, and the wind that blows over the country

61. In like manner the lightning when it breaketh forth is easy to be seen; and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country.

61. and the clouds passing over the earth at God's command, fire sent from on high to consume mountain and forest - all do what is commanded.

62. And when God commandeth the clouds to go over the whole world, they do as they are bidden.

62. But these wooden objects can in no way compare with them,

63. And the fire sent from above to consume hills and woods doeth as it is commanded: but these are like unto them neither in shew nor power.

63. that is why it must not be either believed or said that these are gods, since they are powerless to administer justice or benefit mankind in any way.

64. Wherefore it is neither to be supposed nor said that they are gods, seeing, they are able neither to judge causes, nor to do good unto men.

64. Since you know they are not gods, have no fear of them.

65. Knowing therefore that they are no gods, fear them not,

65. They can neither curse

66. For they can neither curse nor bless kings:

66. nor bless kings, nor bring about signs in the heavens for the nations to see. They can neither shine like the sun nor give light like the moon.

67. Neither can they shew signs in the heavens among the heathen, nor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon.

67. Animals are of more worth, since by taking cover they can look after themselves.

68. The beasts are better than they: for they can get under a cover and help themselves.

68. So in no way whatever is it evident to us that these are gods; for that reason have no fear of them.

69. It is then by no means manifest unto us that they are gods: therefore fear them not.

69. For like a scarecrow in a field of melons, these gods plated with silver and gold protect nothing.

70. For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing: so are their gods of wood, and laid over with silver and gold.

70. Again these wooden gods may be compared to a thornbush in a garden where any bird can perch, or to a corpse thrown into a dark place.

71. And likewise their gods of wood, and laid over with silver and gold, are like to a white thorn in an orchard, that every bird sitteth upon; as also to a dead body, that is east into the dark.

71. You know by the purple and scarlet robes rotting on them that they are not gods. They end up by being eaten away and become a disgrace to the country.

72. And ye shall know them to be no gods by the bright purple that rotteth upon then1: and they themselves afterward shall be eaten, and shall be a reproach in the country.

72. Better then a just man who has no idols, he will not be dishonored.

73. Better therefore is the just man that hath none idols: for he shall be far from reproach. .

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