Drift Bible

2 Baruch

Chapter 13

  1. 1 And it came to pass after these things, that I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion, and lo! a voice came from the height and said unto me: 1a And it came to pass after these things that I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion, and lo a voice came forth from the height and said unto me:
  2. 2 'Stand upon your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.' 2a 'Stand upon your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.'
  3. 3 Because you have been astonished at what has befallen Zion, you shall therefore be assuredly preserved to the consummation of the times, that you may be for a testimony.
  4. 4 So that, if ever those prosperous cities say:
  5. 5 'Why hath the mighty God brought upon us this retribution?' Say you to them, you and those like you who shall have seen this evil: '(This is the evil) and retribution which is coming upon you and upon your people in its (destined) time that the nations may be thoroughly smitten.
  6. 6 And then they shall be in anguish.
  7. 7 And if they say at that time:
  8. 8 For how long? you will say to them: "Ye who have drunk the strained wine, Drink you also of its dregs, The judgment of the Lofty One Who has no respect of persons."
  9. 9 On this account he had aforetime no mercy on His own sons, But afflicted them as His enemies, because they sinned,
  10. 10 Then therefore were they chastened That they might be sanctified. OXYRHYNCHUS GREEK FRAGMENT Recto
  11. 11 But now, you peoples and nations, you are guilty Because you have always trodden down the earth, And used the creation unrighteously. 11a (Ye) have trodden down the earth And misused the created things in it.
  12. 12 For I have always benefited you. And you have always been ungrateful for the beneficence. 12a For you were always being benefited But you were always ungrateful. 14-19. The Righteousness of the Righteous has profited neither them nor their City; God's Judgments are incomprehensible; the World was made for the Righteous, yet they pass and the World remains (14). Answer-Man knows God's Judgments and has sinned willingly. This World is a Weariness to the Righteous but the next is theirs (15), to be won through Character whether a Man's Time here be long or short (16-17). Final Weal or Woe-the supreme Question (18-19).