Second Baruch

And I prayed to the Mighty One and said:

“You alone, O Lord, know beforehand

the heights

of the world,

and what happens in the times you bring to pass by your word,

and against the deeds of the inhabitants of the earth you hasten the beginnings of the times,

and the end of the periods you alone know.

You for whom nothing is too difficult,

but everything easily

by a command

you accomplish.

You to whom the depths come like the heights,

and the beginnings of the ages serve your word.

You who reveal to those who fear

what

is prepared for them,

so that from this

they may comfort

them.

You make known mighty deeds to those who do not know;

you break down the enclosure for those who do not understand;

and you enlighten

the darkness and reveal hidden things to those who are blameless,

who in faith have subjected themselves to you and to your Law.

You have shown your servant this vision;

reveal to me also its interpretation.

For I know that regarding the things I asked of you, I have received an answer,

and regarding what I prayed for, you have revealed to me,

and you have made known to me with what voice I should praise you,

or from what limbs I should offer up praise and thanksgiving to you.

For if my limbs were to become mouths

and the hairs of my head voices,

not even so would I be able to render you praise,

or to praise you as is fitting,

nor am I able to recount your praise,

or to speak of the splendor of your majesty.

For what am I among humankind,

or how am I accounted among those who are more excellent than I, that I have heard

all these wonders from the Most High,

and boundless good tidings from him who created me?

Blessed is my mother among women who give birth,

and praised among women be she who bore me!

For my part, I will not keep silent from praising the Mighty One,

but with a voice of praise I will recount his wonders.

For who can be compared to your wonders, O God,

or who can comprehend your thought,

deep

of life?

For in your counsel you govern all the creations that your right hand has created.

And you have established every fountain of light beside you,

and prepared the treasuries of wisdom beneath your throne.

And justly do they perish who have not loved your law,

and the torment of judgment receives those who have not submitted to your dominion.

For if Adam sinned first

and brought untimely death upon all,

yet also those who were born from him, each one

of them prepared for himself the torment to come,

and again, each one of them chose for himself the glories to come.

For truly, he who believes will receive a reward.

Now therefore, turn to corruption, you unrighteous of the present,

because you are swiftly summoned, for once

you rejected

the understanding of the Most High.

For his works did not teach you,

nor did the craftsmanship of his perpetual creation persuade you.

Adam, therefore, is not the cause, except for himself alone,

but each one of us

has become

an Adam to his own soul.

You, however, O Lord, explain to me regarding those things which you have revealed to me,

and make known to me concerning that which I have asked of you.

For at the consummation of the world a reckoning will be made of those

who have acted unrighteously according to their unrighteousness,

and you will glorify the faithful according to their faithfulness.

For those who are yours, you guide,

and those who sin, you blot out from among your own.