Baruch

That is why the Lord our God has fulfilled the word he spoke against us, the judges who governed Israel, our kings, princes, and the people of Israel and Judah.

 No one under the sky has ever seen anything like what happened in Jerusalem, as written in the Book of Moses.

 For people among us came to eat their sons’ and daughters’ flesh.

 And he handed them over to the power of all the surrounding kingdoms so that they were cursed and humiliated among the neighboring peoples among whom the Lord had scattered them.

 Submission and not command has been our lot because we have sinned against the Lord our God and have not listened to his voice.

 The Lord is just, as our God, while shame and confusion are fitting for us and our ancestors even to this day.

 All those evils that the Lord prophesied would happen to us have indeed fallen upon us.

We have not begged the Lord to help each of us turn away from the thoughts of our evil hearts.

 Then the Lord watched over these evils and allowed them to come upon us, for he is just in all his commands.

We have not listened to his voice nor obeyed the commands he has instructed us to keep.

Second Part 

And now, Lord God of Israel, you who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, miracles, wonders, and great power, and who stretched out your arm and made for yourself a name like it is today,

 we have sinned. We have been unfaithful and unjust, Lord, neglecting all your commands.

 May your anger be turned away from us, for there are very few of us left among the nations where you have scattered us.

 Hear our plea and prayer, O Lord. Deliver us for your own honor, and grant us favor with those who have deported us.

 Let all the earth know that you are the Lord our God because Israel and its people bear your name.

 Lord, look down from your holy dwelling and consider us; incline your ear and listen.

 Open your eyes and observe: it is not the dead, lying in the netherworld, who will praise your glory and justice,

 since their spirits have been taken from their bodies. The man burdened with grief, walking bowed down and exhausted, with eyes sore from weeping and hunger—these are the ones who can give you glory and justice, O Lord.

Third Part

For it is not because of the virtues of our ancestors and kings that we cry out for mercy before you, O Lord our God.

 You have sent down your fury and anger on us, as you announced through your servants, the prophets, saying,

 “Thus says the Lord: Bend your shoulders and serve the king of Babylon, and you will dwell in the land that I gave to your ancestors.”

 But if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord your God and serve the king of Babylon,

 I will bring an end to the song of joy and gladness in the towns of Judah and Jerusalem—the song of the bridegroom and the bride—and the entire country will become a desert without inhabitants.

 We did not heed your invitation to serve the king of Babylon, and so you carried out what your prophets had foretold—that the bones of our kings and ancestors would be taken from their graves.

 See, they have been exposed to the heat of the day and the cold of the night; they died in severe suffering, from famine, the sword, and by plagues.

 And you have diminished the nation that bears your name to its current state because of the wickedness of the people of Judah.

 However, you have acted toward us, O Lord our God, with indulgence and great tenderness,

 as you foretold through your servant Moses when he was instructed to record your law in front of the children of Israel, saying:

 If you do not listen to my voice, this great and numerous crowd will be reduced to a small remnant among the nations where I will scatter them;

 for I know well that they will not listen to me because they are a stubborn people. But in the land of their exile, their hearts will turn,

and they will recognize that I am the Lord their God.

 And I will give them a heart and listening ears so that they may praise me in the land of their exile and remember my name.

 They will repent of their stubbornness and evil deeds because they will recall what happened to their ancestors who sinned before the Lord.

 And I will lead them into the land I promised by oath to their ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and they will take possession of it. I will increase their numbers, and they will no longer diminish.

 I will establish an everlasting covenant with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will no longer drive my people, Israel, from the land I have given them.