¹Moreover, 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 you should be equal to Zion.

²But now, lo! the grief is infinite, And the lamentation measureless, For lo! thou art prospered And Zion desolate.

³Who will be judge regarding these things? Or to whom shall we complain regarding that which hath befallen us? O Lord, how hast thou borne (it)?

⁴Our fathers went to rest without grief, And lo! the righteous sleep in the earth in tranquility;

⁵For they knew not this anguish, Nor yet had they heard of that which had befallen us.

⁶Would that thou hadst ears, O earth, And that thou hadst a heart, O dust: That you might go and announce in Sheol, And say to the dead:

⁷"Blessed art thou more than we who live."