Baruch

No. 133 Baruch 2:11-18
Baruch is a short book in the Catholic Bible, presented as the work of Jeremiah's secretary, written for exiles in Babylon to read aloud at their gatherings. This passage is the center of its long confession.
No. 270 Baruch 6:17-32
This is the Letter of Jeremiah, a satire written for Jewish exiles living under Babylon, so they would not be frightened by the towering idols of the empire that had captured them. Its method is relentless...
No. 507 Baruch 3:9-19
Baruch, writing to a people in exile, calls out to them to come back to wisdom, the wisdom of God's ways they had abandoned. Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life; give ear to understand wisdom. He tells...
No. 777 Baruch 6:60-73
The sixth chapter of Baruch is a letter written to the exiles in Babylon, warning them not to be taken in by the splendid idols they will see paraded through the streets. Its argument is a long, withering...
No. 885 Baruch 3:20-37
Baruch, the companion of Jeremiah, is writing to exiles, and this passage is a poem about wisdom. He surveys everyone who chased understanding, the young, the merchants, the tellers of fables, the giants of...
No. 922 Baruch 4:1-16
Baruch continues his message to the exiles, and this section identifies wisdom plainly: it is the book of God's commandments, the law that endures forever; those who hold it live, and those who forsake it die....
No. 932 Baruch 1:10-14
This is a letter from the exiles in Babylon back to those left in Jerusalem. They send money and ask that it be used to buy offerings and incense for the altar of the LORD. Then comes a startling request: pray...
No. 976 Baruch 2:19-26
This is part of a long prayer of confession by the exiles. We do not lay our pleas before you because of any righteousness of our fathers or our kings, they pray; we have no record to appeal to. God had warned...
No. 1017 Baruch 5:1-9
After chapters of confession and grief, Baruch turns to pure comfort. Take off your garment of mourning, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of God's glory; wrap the robe of God's righteousness around...
No. 1196 Baruch 2:1-10
Baruch continues the exiles' prayer of confession. God has done exactly what he warned, bringing on Jerusalem the disasters written in the law of Moses, even to the horror of famine so severe that people ate...
No. 1203 Baruch 6:1-16
This is the Letter of Jeremiah, a warning to the exiles heading into Babylon, where they will see impressive idols carried on shoulders, worshiped by crowds. Do not be afraid of them, the letter urges; say in...
No. 1684 Baruch 6:53-59
This passage, from the letter warning exiles against idolatry, piles up the helplessness of idols. They cannot set up a king or send rain; they cannot judge a case or right a wrong. When fire falls on their...
No. 1892 Baruch 4:27-37
Baruch speaks tender comfort to a Jerusalem in exile and mourning. Take courage, my children, and cry to God, he says, for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you. As you chose to go astray...
No. 2067 Baruch 2:27-35
In his prayer of confession, Baruch recalls God's mercy toward a stiff-necked people. God had warned that if they would not listen, they would be scattered; and he foresaw that they would not listen, because...
No. 2095 Baruch 3:1-8
From the depths of exile, Baruch's prayer rises: O Lord Almighty, the soul in anguish and the troubled spirit cries to you. Hear, and have mercy, for we have sinned before you. And amid the confession comes a...
No. 2101 Baruch 1:1-9
The book of Baruch opens with a scene of the exiles in Babylon responding to the reading of God's word. Baruch read the words of the book in the hearing of the king's son and the elders and all the people,...
No. 2362 Baruch 1:15-22
Baruch records a prayer of confession sent back toward Jerusalem by exiles. It begins by putting the two sides in their place: to the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us belongs shame of face, as on...
No. 3418 Baruch 6:40-52
This letter mocks the utter helplessness of idols with relentless logic. They are made by carpenters and goldsmiths, and can be nothing more than what the workmen make them; the very craftsmen who fashion them...
No. 3741 Baruch 6:33-39
This passage, from a letter warning the exiles against idolatry, exposes the utter helplessness of idols by listing all the things they cannot do. They can save no one from death, cannot deliver the weak,...
No. 4322 Baruch 4:17-26
As the people of God grieve in exile, this passage speaks to them like a mother comforting her children: take courage, my children; cry to God, and he will deliver you. Though they were sent out with mourning...