2 Baruch

Historical printed page 516

II BARUCH 66; τ- 268,2 6: ‘And the bright tenth waters which thou hast seen: this is the purity of the generations of Josiah 67 68 ;, king of Judah, who was the only one at the time who submitted himself to the Mighty One with all 2 his heart and with all his soul. And he cleansed the land from idols, and hallowed all the vessels which had been polluted, and restored the offerings to the altar, and raised the horn of the holy, and exalted the righteous, and honoured all that were wise in understanding, and brought back the priests to their ministry, and destroyed and removed the magicians and enchanters and necromancers from 3 the land. And not only did he slay the impious that were living, but they also took from the 4 sepulchres the bones of the dead and burned them with fire. [And the festivals and the sabbaths he established in their sanctity], and their polluted ones he burnt in the fire, and the lying prophets which deceived the people, these also he burnt in the fire,and the people who listened to them when 5 they were living, he cast them into the brook Cedron, and heaped stones upon them. And he was zealous with zeal for the Mighty One with all his soul, and he alone was firm in the law at that time, so that he left none that was uncircumcised, or that wrought impiety in all the land, all the days of 6 his life. Therefore he shall receive an eternal reward, and he shall be glorified with the Mighty One 7 beyond many at a later time. For on his account and on account of those who are like him were 8 the honourable glories, of which thou wast told before, created and prepared. These are the bright waters which thou hast seen. 1 ‘And the black eleventh waters which thou hast seen: this is the calamity which is now befalling Zion. 2 Dost thou think that there is no anguish to the angels in the presence of the Mighty One, That Zion was so delivered up, And that lo! the Gentiles boast in their hearts, And assemble before their idols and say, “ She is trodden down who ofttimes trod down, And she has been reduced to servitude who reduced (others) ” ? 3 Dost thou think that in these things the Most High rejoices, Or that His name is glorified ? 4 [But how will it serve towards His righteous judgement ?] 5 Yet after these things shall the dispersed among the Gentiles be taken hold of by tribulation, And in shame shall they dwell in every place. 6 Because so far as Zion is delivered up And Jerusalem laid waste, Shall idols prosper in the cities of the Gentiles, And the vapour of the smoke of the incense of the righteousness which is by the law is extinguished in Zion, And in the region of Zion in every place lo! there is the smoke of impiety. -1 But the king of Babylon will arise who has now destroyed Zion, And he will boast over the people, And he will speak great things in his heart in the presence of the Most High. 8 But he also shall fall at last. These are the black waters. 2 ‘And the bright twelfth waters which thou hast seen: this is the word. For after these things a time will come when thy people shall fall into -distress, so that they shall all run the risk- of perishing together. Nevertheless, they will be saved, and their enemies will fall in their presence. w LXVI. 2. necromancers, i.e. JIN. Cf. 2 Kings xxi. 6. 4. The words bracketed might come after ‘to their ministry ’ in verse 2. 6. Therefore. Here I have emended 2 gs»? aso (=‘now’, to wit, ‘he who’) into Noo =‘ therefore’, But the original is doubtful. Fale XIV. 8: LXVII. 2. assemble. The Syriac reads fat (=‘ crowds’) corrupt for aaL5 (=‘assemble ἢ). 6-7. With Jerusalem’s destruction godlessness is everywhere triumphant. A*is unaware of the divine interposition to save the sacred vessels and destroy Zion by angels which B! narrates (vi. 4-10; Ixxx. 1-3), Here in A‘, too, the Gentiles (Ixvii. 2) and the King of Babylon (Ixvii. 7) boast over the fall of Zion. Contrast the ideas of B? in vii, 1 and Ixxx. 3, where such boasting is provided against. 6. righteousness which is by the law. See xv. 5, note. LXVIII. 2, 3. The danger of the Jews according to the book of Esther and their deliverance. This.is the second earliest allusion to this O.T. book. The first is in 2 Macc. xv. 36. : χε rr 516 “οὐδ