2 Baruch

Historical printed page 486

12 13 14 17 18 19 ll; II BARUCH 10, r1—11. 3 And do ye, O heavens, withhold your dew, And open not the treasuries of rain : And do thou, O sun, withhold the light of thy rays. And do thou, O moon, extinguish the multitude of thy light ; For why should light rise again Where the light of Zion is darkened ? And you, ye bridegrooms, enter not in, And let not the brides adorn themselves with garlands ; And, ye women, pray not that ye may bear. For the barren shall above all rejoice, And those who have no sons shall be glad, And those who have sons shall have anguish. For why should they bear in pain, Only to bury in grief? Or why, again, should mankind have sons ? Or why should the seed of their kind again be named, Where this mother is desolate, And her sons are led into captivity ? From this time forward speak not of beauty, And discourse not of gracefulness. Moreover, ye priests, take ye the keys of the sanctuary, And cast them into the height of heaven, And give them to the Lord and say: “Guard Thy house Thyself, For lo! we are found false stewards.” And you, ye virgins ; who weave fine linen And silk with gold of Ophir, Take with haste all (these) things And cast (them) into the fire, That it may bear them to Him who made them, And the flame send them to Him who created them, Lest the enemy get possession of them.’ Moreover, I, Baruch, say this against thee, Babylon : ‘If thou hadst prospered, And Zion had dwelt in her glory, Yet the grief to us had been great That thou shouldst be equal to Zion. But now, lo! the grief is infinite, And the lamentation measureless, For lo! thou art prospered And Zion desolate. Who will be judge regarding these things ? Or to whom shall we complain regarding that which has befallen us ? O Lord, how hast Thou borne (it) ? 13. brides. Syriac gives virgins, who first rightly occur in verse 19. The references here are to marriage. The text = midina, corrupt for ΤῊΣ in the Hebrew original. 14. Cf. Matt. xxiv. 19; Luke xxiii. 29, ‘ Blessed are the barren, &c.’ 16. this mother, Jerusalem. See iii. 1 note. ; 18. The priesthood are found false stewards and resign charge of the temple. Cf. 4 Baruch iv. 3, 4, where Jeremiah casts up the keys ‘before the sun’, and the Ja/ku¢ Shim. on Isa. xxi, where the flower of the priests cast them up aloft. The same incident is recounted in Taanith 29%; Lev. R. xix. 6, in connexion with the destruction of the first temple. In Ab. R. N. vii the incident is recorded in connexion with the destruction of the second temple. ΧΙ. 1. Babylon stands here for Rome, as in Rev. xiv. 8, &c. : 3. how hast Thou borne (it). Cf. 4 Ezra iii. 30, “how Thou dost bear with them that sin.’ Also Pss. Sol. ii. 1, and 4 Ezra iii. 8; Isa. xiv. 6. 486