Baruch - chapter 3

3: 1 - 37 (translated by Edgar Goodspeed)
"O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the wearied spirit cry out to You. Listen, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned in Your sight. For You abide forever, and we perish forever. O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear the prayer of the dead in Israel, and of the sons of those who sinned in Your sight, who did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, so that calamities have pursued us. Do not remember the iniquities of our forefathers, but remember Your power and Your name at this time, for You are the Lord our God, and we will praise You, O Lord. For You have put Your fear into our hearts for this reason, that we should call upon Your name, and we will praise You in our exile, for we have put out of our hearts all the iniquity of our forefathers, who sinned in Your sight. Here we are today in exile, where You have scattered us, to be reproached and cursed and condemned for all the iniquities of our forefathers who rebelled against the Lord our God."
Hear the commandments of life, O Israel; Listen, and learn wisdom.Why is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies, that you have grown old in a strange land, that you have been polluted with the dead, that you are counted among those in Hades? You have forsaken the spring of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of God, you would have lived in peace forever. Learn where wisdom is, where strength is, where understanding is, so that you may at the same time learn where length of days and life are, where there is light for the eyes, and peace. Who can find her location, and who can get into her storehouses? Where are the rulers of the heathen, and those who master the animals of the earth, who have their sport with the wild birds, and lay up silver and gold, in which men trust, and have property without end; who work in silver and anxious care, and whose works defy investigation? They have vanished and gone to Hades, and others have taken their places. A younger generation has seen the light and settled on the earth, but they have not learned the way to knowledge, nor understood its paths, nor laid hold of it. Their sons have strayed far out of their way; it was never heard of in Canaan, or seen in Teman; the sons of Hagar, who seek for understanding on the earth, the merchants of Merran and Teman, the story-tellers and the searchers for understanding have not found the way to wisdom, or remembered its paths.
O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast the region that He possesses! It is great, it has no end; it is immeasurably high. There were born the giants, famous of old, tall in stature, expert in war. God did not choose them or give them the way of knowledge. So they perished, because they had no understanding; they perished through their own folly. Who ever went up to heaven and got her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who ever crossed the sea and found her, and will buy her with fine gold? No one knows the way to her, He has discovered her through His understanding. He who created the earth forever, filled it with four-footed creatures; He who sends forth the light, and it goes; He called it, and it obeyed Him in fear; the stars shone in their watches, and were glad; He called them, and they said, "Here we are!" They shone with gladness for Him who made them. He is our God; no other can be compared with Him! He has found out the whole way to knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant and to Israel, whom He loved. After that, she appeared on the earth and mingled with men.