Lost Books of the Bible (174 page)

Chapter 75

1 And I asked: Lord, Who can understand Your goodness? For it is incomprehensible.

2 Who can look into your compassions, which are infinite?

3 Who can understand Your intelligence?

4 Who is able to explain the thoughts of Your mind?

5 Who of those born can hope to attain those things unless to him are merciful and gracious?

6  Certainly if You did not have compassion on those who are under Your right hand they could not come to those things. Only those who are in the numbers you named can be called.

7  We who exist know why we have come and so we submit ourselves to Him who brought us out of Egypt. We will come again and remember those things which have passed. We will rejoice in what has been.

8 But if we do not know why we have come and if we do not recognize the  kingdom of Him who brought us up out of Egypt, we will have to come again and seek after those things which have been now. We will be grieved with pain again because of those things which have befallen.

Chapter 76

1 And He answered and said to me: This vision has been revealed and interpreted to you as you asked me to do, now hear the word of the Most High that you may know what is to befall you after these things.

2 You will surely leave this earth, but not by death, but you will be preserved until the end of the age (times).

3 Go up to the top of that mountain, and all the regions of that land, and the figure of the inhabited world, and the tops of the mountains, and the depth of the valleys, and the depths of the seas, and the number of the rivers will pass before you so that you may see what you are leaving, and to what place you are going. Now this will happen after forty days.

4 Go now during these days and teach the people as much as you are able so that they may learn and not die at the last age but they may learn in order that they may live at the last age.”

Chapter 77

1 And I, Baruch, went from there and came to the people, and assembled them together from the greatest to the least, and said to them:

2  Hear, children of Israel! See how many of you are who remain of the twelve tribes of Israel.

3 To you and to your fathers the Lord gave a law more excellent than to all peoples.

4 Because your brethren transgressed the commandments of the Most High, He brought vengeance upon you and upon them. He did not spare the former, and the latter also He gave into slavery.

5 He did not leave a trace of them. But you are here with me.!

6 If you direct your ways correctly you will not depart as your brethren departed, but they will come back to you.

7 You worship He who is full of mercy. Your hope is in Him who is gracious and true. He will do good and not evil.

8 Have you not seen what has befallen Zion?

9 Do you think that the place (area/location) had sinned and that is why it was overthrown? Did you think that the land had performed foolishness and that because of this it was delivered up?

10 Don’t you know it was because of you who sinned, that those things which did not sin were overthrown? It was because of you who performed wickedness that those thing which did not do foolish acts were delivered up to its enemies?

11  All the people answered and said to me,  We can recall the good things which the Mighty One has done for (to) us. We do recall them. There are these things and those things which we do not remember that He in His mercy knows.

12 In spite of this, please do this for us, your people, write to our brethren in Babylon an letter of (religious) teaching and a scroll containing hope so that you may confirm them before you leave us.

13 The religious leaders (shepherds) of Israel have died, and the lamps which gave light are extinguished, and the fountains from which we drank have withheld their stream.

14 We are left in the darkness among the trees of the forest, the thirst of the wilderness.”

15 And I answered and said to them: Shepherds and lamps and fountains come from the law: And though we leave, yet the law remains.

16 If you have respect for the law, and are determined to become wise, a lamp will not be lacking, and a shepherd (religious leader) will not fail, and a fountain will not dry up.

17 I will write also to your brethren in Babylon, and I will send by means of men, and I will write in like manner to the nine tribes and a half, and send by means of a bird.

18 And on twenty-first day in the eighth month that I, Baruch, came and sat down under the oak under the shadow of the branches, and no man was with me, but I was alone.

19 And I wrote these two letters; one I sent by an eagle to the nine and a half tribes;

20  And the other I sent to those that were at Babylon by means of three men.

21 And I called the eagle and spoke these words to it: The Most High has made you that you should be higher than all birds.

22 Now go and do not stop in any place, nor enter a nest, nor settle upon any tree, till you have passed over the breadth of the many waters of the river Euphrates, and have gone to the people that dwell there, and drop down to them this letter.

23 Remember that at the time of the deluge Noah received the fruit of the olive from a dove when he sent it out from the ark.

24 The ravens also ministered to Elijah, bringing him food as they had been commanded.

25 Solomon, in the time of his kingdom, when he wished to send or seek for anything, commanded a bird to go out and it obeyed him as he commanded it.

26 So do not tire, and do not turn to the right hand nor the left, but fly and go by a direct way, that you may preserve the command of the Mighty One, according as I said to you.

Chapter 78

 1 These are the words of that letter which Baruch the son of Neriah sent to the nine and a half tribes, which were across the river Euphrates, in which these things were written.

2 Baruch the son of Neriah says to the brethren carried into captivity: “Mercy and peace.”

3 I bear in mind, my brethren, the love of Him who created us, who loved us from ancient times, and never hated us, but above all taught us.

4 And truly I know that all of us in the twelve tribes are bound by one bond, inasmuch as we are born from one father.

5 Because of this I have been the more diligent to leave you the words of this letter before I die, so that you may be comforted regarding the evils which have come upon you, and also that you may be grieved regarding the evil that has befallen your brethren; and also that you may justify (understand and accept) His judgment which He has decreed against you that you should be carried away captives.  What you have suffered is a sentence disproportionably greater  than what you have done. But this was done in order that, at the last times, you may be found worthy of your fathers.

6 So, if you consider that you have now suffered those things for your good, that you may not be condemned and tormented in the end, then you will receive eternal hope. But you must remove from your heart all error and vanity, for it was because of this you departed from here.

7 If you so do these things He will never forget you. He who gave His promise to those greater than us but on our behalf, that He will never forget or forsake us, but will gather together again those who were dispersed with much mercy.

Chapter 79

 1 Now, my brethren, learn first what befell Zion and how Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up against us.

2 For we have sinned against Him who made us, and we have not kept the commandments which he ordered us to keep. Yet he has not chastened us as we deserved.

3 For what befell you we also suffer in a the highest degree, for it happened to us also.

Chapter 80

1 And now, my brethren, I reveal to you that when the enemy had surrounded the city the angels of the Most High were sent, and they collapsed the fortifications of the strong wall and they destroyed the solid iron corners, which could not be pulled up.

2 Nevertheless, they hid all the vessels of the sanctuary, to prevent the enemy from possessing them.

3 And when they had done these things, they delivered to the enemy the collapsed wall, and the plundered house, and the burnt temple, and the people who were overcome because they were delivered up. They did this so the enemy could not boast and say: “ In war. by force have we been able to lay waste to the house of the Most High.”

4 They also have bound your brethren and led away them to Babylon, and have forced them to live there.

5 But we, being very few, have been left here..

6 This is the tribulation about which I wrote to you.

7 And certainly I know that alleviation of the pain of the inhabitants of Zion consoles you.  You knew that they prospered so your consolation was greater than the tribulation which you endured in having to leave it.

Chapter 81

1 But regarding consolation, listen to my word.

2 I was grieving regarding Zion, and I prayed for mercy from the Most High, and I said:

3  How long will these things last for us? Will we always have these evils  on us?”

4 The Mighty One acted according out of the multitude of His mercies and according to the vastness of His compassion. He revealed to me His word so that my suffering would be relieved. He showed me visions that I should not again endure anguish. He made known to me the mystery of the times. And the advent of the hours he showed me.

Chapter 82

 1 Therefore, my brethren, I have written to you, that you may comfort yourselves regarding the multitude of tribulations.

2 You know that our Maker will certainly avenge us and do to our enemies according to all that they have done to us.  The end, which the Most High will make is very near will bring His mercy and the final result of His judgment is by no means far off.

3 For now we see the numerous prosperity of the Gentiles, even though they act sinfully and they are like a vapor.

4 We see their great power, even though they act wickedly, But they will become like a drop (of water).

5 We see the strength of their might, even though they resist the Mighty One every hour. But they will be considered as spittle.

6 We consider the glory of their greatness, though they do not keep the statutes of the Most High. But as smoke will they pass away.

7 And we think about the beauty of theirs gracefulness, even though they give it with pollutions. But as grass that withers will they fade away.

8 And we consider the strength of their cruelty, though they do not remember what it brought or how it ended. But as a wave that passes (through them) they will be broken.

9 And we remark about how the brag about being mighty although they deny that it was God that gave it to them. But they will disappear like a passing cloud.

Chapter 83

1 Most High will certainly speed up His times, and He will bring on His hours.