HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  In Praise of Wisdom

  9Hear the commandments of life, O Israel;

  give ear, and learn wisdom!

  10Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies,

  that you are growing old in a foreign country,

  that you are defiled with the dead,

  11that you are counted among those in Hades?

  12You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.

  13If you had walked in the way of God,

  you would be living in peace forever.

  14Learn where there is wisdom,

  where there is strength,

  where there is understanding,

  so that you may at the same time discern

  where there is length of days, and life,

  where there is light for the eyes, and peace.

  15Who has found her place?

  And who has entered her storehouses?

  16Where are the rulers of the nations,

  and those who lorded it over the animals on earth;

  17those who made sport of the birds of the air,

  and who hoarded up silver and gold

  in which people trust,

  and there is no end to their getting;

  18those who schemed to get silver, and were anxious,

  but there is no trace of their works?

  19They have vanished and gone down to Hades,

  and others have arisen in their place.

  20Later generations have seen the light of day,

  and have lived upon the earth;

  but they have not learned the way to knowledge,

  nor understood her paths, nor laid hold of her.

  21Their descendants have strayed far from herb way.

  22She has not been heard of in Canaan,

  or seen in Teman;

  23the descendants of Hagar, who seek for understanding on the earth,

  the merchants of Merran and Teman,

  the story-tellers and the seekers for understanding,

  have not learned the way to wisdom,

  or given thought to her paths.

  24O Israel, how great is the house of God,

  how vast the territory that he possesses!

  25It is great and has no bounds;

  it is high and immeasurable.

  26The giants were born there, who were famous of old,

  great in stature, expert in war.

  27God did not choose them,

  or give them the way to knowledge;

  28so they perished because they had no wisdom,

  they perished through their folly.

  29Who has gone up into heaven,

  and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

  30Who has gone over the sea,

  and found her, and will buy her for pure gold?

  31No one knows the way to her,

  or is concerned about the path to her.

  32But the one who knows all things knows her,

  he found her by his understanding.

  The one who prepared the earth for all time

  filled it with four-footed creatures;

  33the one who sends forth the light, and it goes;

  he called it, and it obeyed him, trembling;

  34the 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.

  35This is our God;

  no other can be compared to him.

  36He found the whole way to knowledge,

  and gave her to his servant Jacob

  and to Israel, whom he loved.

  37Afterward she appeared on earth

  and lived with humankind.

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  a Gk dead

  b Other ancient authorities read their

  3.1–8 Conclusion and final petition. The exiles’ repentance and prayer conforms to the pattern of Lev 26.40–45; Deut 30.1–10; Jer 29.12–14.

  3.7 See Jer 32.40.

  3.8 The exiles are punished for the sins of their ancestors (Ex 3.7; Lam 5.7); but cf. Jer 31.29; Ezek 18.2–32.

  3.9–4.4 A poem in the style of a wisdom discourse describes the elusiveness of wisdom but also God’s gift of wisdom to Israel in the Torah.

  3.9–14 Israel’s experience of exile is used as an object lesson to motivate obedience to the commandments of life and wisdom; cf. Deut 30.15–20.

  3.9 The address to Israel echoes Deut 4.1; 5.1; cf. also the command to hear in Prov 1.8; 4.1, 10.

  3.10 An exilic setting is presumed, though growing old in a foreign country suggests a different time than the fifth year mentioned in 1.2.

  3.11 Ps 88.4.

  3.12 See Prov 18.4; Sir 1.1, 5.

  3.14 See Prov 3.13–18.

  3.15–28 Neither the powerful, nor the wealthy, nor the nations with a reputation for wisdom, nor the ancient giants have been able to find wisdom.

  3.15 See Job 28.12, 20.

  3.16–17 Both the hunting and the collecting of exotic animals were symbols of royal power; cf. 1 Kings 10.22; Jer 27.6; Dan 2.38; Jdt 11.7.

  3.22 The Canaanite (Phoenician) cities of Tyre and Sidon were associated with wisdom; cf. Ezek 28.4; Zech 9.2. For the wisdom of Teman, the capital of Edom, see Job 2.11; Jer 49.7; Ob 8.

  3.23 The descendants of Hagar, the Ishmaelites (Gen 16.11–12), who appear as merchant travelers in Gen 37.25. Merran may be an error for Midian; see Gen 37.28 for Midianite caravaners. Sir 39.4 associates travel with wisdom.

  3.24–25 Here the house of God is not the temple but the whole cosmos.

  3.26–28 According to ancient tradition, the giants (see Gen 6.1–4) were the children of fallen angels, who communicated a corrupted form of heavenly wisdom to humans (1 Enoch 7). The giants perished in the deluge (Wis 14.6).

  3.29–37 Although no human can reach Wisdom, God knows her and has given her to Israel.

  3.29–30a Cf. Deut 30.12–13, which uses similar imagery to describe the accessibility of the divine commandments.

  3.30b See Job 28.12–19.

  3.31–32 See Job 28.23–27.

  3.33–34 See Job 38.35.

  3.35 See Isa 43.10–11; 45.18.

  3.36–37 For the gift of wisdom to Israel, see Sir 24.8. Although v. 37 has sometimes been regarded as a Christian interpolation referring to the incarnation, the idea that Wisdom lived with humankind is attested in Prov 8.1–4, 31; Wis 9.10; Sir 24.10–12.

  BARUCH 4

  1She is the book of the commandments of God,

  the law that endures forever.

  All who hold her fast will live,

  and those who forsake her will die.

  2Turn, O Jacob, and take her;

  walk toward the shining of her light.

  3Do not give your glory to another,

  or your advantages to an alien people.

  4Happy are we, O Israel,

  for we know what is pleasing to God.

  Encouragement for Israel

  5Take courage, my people,

  who perpetuate Israel’s name!

  6It was not for destruction

  that you were sold to the nations,

  but you were handed over to your enemies

  because you angered God.

  7For you provoked the one who made you

  by sacrificing to demons and not to God.

  8You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up,

  and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.

  9For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God,

  and she said:

  Listen, you neighbors of Zion,

  God has brought great sorrow upon me;

  10for I have seen the exile of my sons and daughters,

  which the Everlasting brought upon them.

  11With joy I nurtured them,

  but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.

  12Let no one rejoice over me, a widow

 
and bereaved of many;

  I was left desolate because of the sins of my children,

  because they turned away from the law of God.

  13They had no regard for his statutes;

  they did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments,

  or tread the paths his righteousness showed them.

  14Let the neighbors of Zion come;

  remember the capture of my sons and daughters,

  which the Everlasting brought upon them.

  15For he brought a distant nation against them,

  a nation ruthless and of a strange language,

  which had no respect for the aged

  and no pity for a child.

  16They led away the widow’s beloved sons,

  and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters.

  17But I, how can I help you?

  18For he who brought these calamities upon you

  will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.

  19Go, my children, go;

  for I have been left desolate.

  20I have taken off the robe of peace

  and put on sackcloth for my supplication;

  I will cry to the Everlasting all my days.

  21Take courage, my children, cry to God,

  and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.

  22For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,

  and joy has come to me from the Holy One,

  because of the mercy that will soon come to you

  from your everlasting savior.a

  23For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,

  but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness forever.

  24For as the neighbors of Zion have now seen your capture,

  so they soon will see your salvation by God,

  which will come to you with great glory

  and with the splendor of the Everlasting.

  25My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.

  Your enemy has overtaken you,

  but you will soon see their destruction

  and will tread upon their necks.

  26My pampered children have traveled rough roads;

  they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.

  27Take courage, my children, and cry to God,

  for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.

  28For just as you were disposed to go astray from God,

  return with tenfold zeal to seek him.

  29For the one who brought these calamities upon you

  will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.

  Jerusalem Is Assured of Help

  30Take courage, O Jerusalem,

  for the one who named you will comfort you.

  31Wretched will be those who mistreated you

  and who rejoiced at your fall.

  32Wretched will be the cities that your children served as slaves;

  wretched will be the city that received your offspring.

  33For just as she rejoiced at your fall

  and was glad for your ruin,

  so she will be grieved at her own desolation.

  34I will take away her pride in her great population,

  and her insolence will be turned to grief.

  35For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days,

  and for a long time she will be inhabited by demons.

  36Look toward the east, O Jerusalem,

  and see the joy that is coming to you from God.

  37Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away;

  they are coming, gathered from east and west,

  at the word of the Holy One,

  rejoicing in the glory of God.

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  a Or from the Everlasting, your savior

  4.1–4 Wisdom is explicitly identified with the Torah (cf. Sir 24.23).

  4.4 See Wis 9.18.

  4.5–5.9 In the poem of consolation the psalmist addresses the exiles (4.5–9a), quotes the words of personified Jerusalem (4.9b–29), and finally addresses words of hope to Jerusalem (4.30–5.9). The composition draws extensively on phrases and images from Isa 40–66.

  4.5–9a The reason for the exile is identified as the people’s sin.

  4.5 The call to take courage is repeated in vv. 21, 30.

  4.6 See Isa 50.1b.

  4.7 Sacrificing to demons. Cf. Deut 32.16–17.

  4.8 Parental images of God (Deut 32.18; Isa 1.2; Hos 11.4) and Jerusalem (see note on 4.9b–16) are combined.

  4.9b–16 The personification of Zion as a grieving widow and mother is based on Isa 51.18–20; Lam 1.1, 16–18; 2.19–22.

  4.15 Deut 28.49–50.

  4.20 For sackcloth as a garment of mourning, see Lam 1.10. In Isa 52.1 festive garments mark the end of mourning (see note on 5.1–2).

  4.22 Everlasting. Cf. Isa 26.4; 40.28. Holy One is a common epithet for God in Isa 40–55; see also Pss 71.22; 78.41; Hab 3.3.

  4.23 See Ps 126.6; Isa 35.10; 51.11.

  4.24 See Isa 60.1–3.

  4.25 See Deut 33.29; cf. Isa 51.23.

  4.30–5.9 Three imperatives (take courage, 4.30; look, 4.36; arise, 5.5) divide the address to Jerusalem into its major parts.

  4.30–35 The punishment of Babylon is part of the consolation of Jerusalem (cf. Isa 43.14; 47.1–15). Contrast the attitude expressed in 1.11–12.

  4.30 See Isa 51.12; 62.2, 4.

  4.31 Edom was especially blamed for having gloated over Jerusalem’s destruction (Isa 34; 63.1–6; Lam 4.21; Ob 8–14; Mal 1.2–5).

  4.35 Fire. Cf. Jer 50.32; 51.30, 58. Inhabited by demons. Cf. Isa 13.21.

  4.36–5.4 Jerusalem’s joy at seeing her exiled children return is described.

  4.36 See Isa 40.9–11.

  4.37 See Isa 43.5–6; Zech 8.7–8; cf. Psalms of Solomon 11.3.

  BARUCH 5

  1Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,

  and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.

  2Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;

  put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;

  3for God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.

  4For God will give you evermore the name,

  “Righteous Peace, Godly Glory.”

  5Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height;

  look toward the east,

  and see your children gathered from west and east

  at the word of the Holy One,

  rejoicing that God has remembered them.

  6For they went out from you on foot,

  led away by their enemies;

  but God will bring them back to you,

  carried in glory, as on a royal throne.

  7For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low

  and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,

  so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.

  8The woods and every fragrant tree

  have shaded Israel at God’s command.

  9For God will lead Israel with joy,

  in the light of his glory,

  with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

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  5.1–2 These verses reverse the image of 4.20. See Isa 52.1; 61.10; cf. Psalms of Solomon 11.8.

  5.4 New garments and a new name for Jerusalem are mentioned together in Isa 62.2–4. For other symbolic names of Zion, see Isa 1.26; 60.14; Jer 33.16; Ezek 48.35.

  5.5–9 The return of the exiled children is described.

  5.5 See Isa 40.9; 43.5; 51.17; 60.4; cf. Psalms of Solomon 11.3.

  5.6 See Isa 49.22; 66.20.

  5.7 See Isa 40.4–5; cf. Psalms of Solomon 11.5.

  5.8 Cf. Psalms of Solomon 11.6–7.

  5.9 See Isa 60.1–3.

  THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH

  6 |

  THE LETT
ER OF JEREMIAH is, according to its superscription, a copy of a letter sent by the seventh–sixth century BCE prophet to those Judeans soon to be exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar, presumably in 597, though possibly in 586 BCE. It imitates the letter found in Jer 29.1–23, which informs those already in exile of their length of stay (“seventy years”) and of their need, therefore, to establish themselves in their new homeland and to seek its welfare (Jer 29.5–7, 10). The Letter of Jeremiah similarly advises the exiles of their length of stay (now “up to seven generations,” v. 3), but is more antagonistic toward the host nation, ridiculing it for its idolatry and warning the exiles not to participate in this apostasy.

  Content

  THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH is an extended diatribe against idolatry that draws heavily upon Jer 10.1–16 and related biblical passages (e.g., Deut 4.27–28; Pss 115.3–8; 135.15–18; Isa 40.18–20; 41.7; 44.9–20; 46.1–7; Hab 2.18–19). Although the relationship between statue and deity was more nuanced in ancient Near Eastern thought than these condemnations allow (the idol was a representation of, and could even be animated by, the deity but was not equivalent to the deity), for those committed to the supremacy of Israel’s God (e.g., Isa 45) and the commandments against divine images (Ex 20.3–5; Deut 5.7–9), these idols were nothing more than the inanimate objects from which they were crafted (wood, gold, and silver). Indeed, that these idols required constant care and attention from their devotees proved their impotence, a point reiterated throughout the Letter (e.g., vv. 13, 24, 27, 48).

  Date

  BECAUSE THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH shows a clear dependence upon earlier polemics against idolatry from the Neo-Babylonian (626–539 BCE) and Persian (539–332 BCE) periods, most scholars date the Letter to the Hellenistic period (332–63 BCE). Taking the reference in v. 3 to “seven generations” literally yields a date of composition near the end of the fourth century BCE. “Seven generations” may, however, simply be a way of denoting a long period of time, in which case a later date may be intended. The Letter is likely alluded to by the author of 2 Macc 2.1–3, which was composed near the end of the second century BCE. A Greek fragment of vv. 43–44, dating to ca. 100 BCE, was discovered in Cave 7 at Qumran. Thus, the available evidence suggests a date of composition sometime between the late fourth and late second century BCE.