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Baruch

Baruch combines confession and prayer with poems about wisdom and consolation for Jerusalem.^{4 sources}4 sources1. Baruch 1:15 2. Baruch 3:9 3. Baruch 4:5 4. Toy

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At a glance

Length: Five chapters in Brenton; Catholic Bibles and the KJV add the Letter of Jeremiah as chapter 6.⁵
Setting: Baruch reading to King Jeconiah and the exiles in Babylon.^{6 7 8}
Genre: Confession, prayer and poetry about wisdom and consolation.^{4 sources}4 sources1. Baruch 1:15 2. Baruch 3:9 3. Baruch 4:5 4. Toy
Written: Second century BC in Toy’s 1902 proposal; other dates and traditional authorship disputed.^{4 sources}4 sources9. Toy 10. (ed.)11. (ed.)12. Gigot
Language: Whitehouse (1913): Hebrew for 1:1–4:4; Greek for 4:5–5:9.^{13 14 15}

Summary

Where can exiles find wisdom and hope? Baruch joins confession and prayer to poems identifying wisdom with Israel’s law and offering consolation to Jerusalem. Its opening presents Baruch son of Neriah, Jeremiah’s scribe, reading to the king and exiles in Babylon. The narrated setting and the date of composition are separate questions. Catholic scholar Francis Gigot defended Baruch’s authorship or compilation in 1907, while acknowledging difficulties. Critical scholar Crawford Howell Toy proposed a second-century-BC editor.^{17 sources}17 sources1. Baruch 1:15 2. Baruch 3:9 3. Baruch 4:5 4. Toy 16. Baruch 3:36 17. Baruch 4:1 18. Gigot 11. (ed.)19. Jeremiah 36:4 20. Jeremiah 36:10 21. Jeremiah 36:32 22. Jeremiah 45:1 6. Baruch 1:1 7. Baruch 1:2 8. Baruch 1:3 12. Gigot 9. Toy

The exiles confess and pray
Baruch 1:1–3:8
The opening places Baruch with Jeconiah and the exiles. Their confession of sin leads into prayer.^{7 sources}7 sources6. Baruch 1:1 7. Baruch 1:2 8. Baruch 1:3 1. Baruch 1:15 2. Baruch 3:9 3. Baruch 4:5 4. Toy
Where wisdom is found
Baruch 3:9–4:4
The poem says that God gave wisdom to Israel and identifies it with the commandments and law.^{5 sources}5 sources2. Baruch 3:9 16. Baruch 3:36 17. Baruch 4:1 18. Gigot 11. (ed.)
Encouragement for Jerusalem
Baruch 4:5–5:9
The final poem offers consolation to Jerusalem.^{4 sources}4 sources1. Baruch 1:15 2. Baruch 3:9 3. Baruch 4:5 4. Toy

Stories

Baruch reads in Babylon
Baruch 1
The book opens with the prophet’s scribe reading to King Jeconiah and the exiles, framing the confession and prayer that follow.^{11 sources}11 sources6. Baruch 1:1 7. Baruch 1:2 8. Baruch 1:3 19. Jeremiah 36:4 20. Jeremiah 36:10 21. Jeremiah 36:32 22. Jeremiah 45:1 1. Baruch 1:15 2. Baruch 3:9 3. Baruch 4:5 4. Toy
Wisdom becomes a gift to Israel
Baruch 3:9–4:4
The search for wisdom ends with God giving it to Israel: the poem locates wisdom in the enduring law.^{5 sources}5 sources2. Baruch 3:9 16. Baruch 3:36 17. Baruch 4:1 18. Gigot 11. (ed.)

Connections to the Bible

Echoes and allusions

Daniel 9:7–19 · Baruch 1:15–2:17medium confidence
Toy, Whitehouse and Gigot note close verbal parallels between the prayers. Toy and Whitehouse favor Baruch borrowing from Daniel; the opposite direction was also argued.^{6 sources}6 sources1. Baruch 1:15 23. Daniel 9:7 24. (ed.)18. Gigot 25. Toy 26. (ed.)
Job 28:1–28 · Baruch 3:9–4:4medium confidence
Toy sees imitation of Job 28 and Sirach 24 in the wisdom poem. Sirach likewise identifies wisdom with Israel’s law.^{5 sources}5 sources2. Baruch 3:9 16. Baruch 3:36 17. Baruch 4:1 18. Gigot 11. (ed.)

Shared figures

Jeremiah 36:4–32 · Baruch 1:1
Jeremiah’s Baruch writes from dictation, reads in the temple and rewrites the burned scroll. Baruch’s opening names the same son of Neriah; Jeremiah 45 also addresses him.^{5 sources}5 sources19. Jeremiah 36:4 20. Jeremiah 36:10 21. Jeremiah 36:32 22. Jeremiah 45:1 6. Baruch 1:1

Where each church stands

Baruch Full table →

Protestant: Read, not for doctrine
Listed in Article VI as 'Baruch the Prophet'.
^{27 28}
Catholic: Scripture
Trent: 'Jeremias, with Baruch'.
²⁹
Greek Orthodox: Scripture
Separate book in the Church of Greece OT; Dositheus does not name it.
Confidence: medium^{30 31}
Russian (Slavonic) Orthodox: Varies
Marked 'non-canonical' in the Synodal Bible; see Tob.
^{32 33 31}
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo: Scripture
Five chapters, shorter than the LXX text (Cowley).
³⁴

Why some kept it, why others left it out

Greek church bishops Athanasius and Cyril included Baruch with Jeremiah, Lamentations and the Letter. Latin translator Jerome omitted Baruch from his translation of Jeremiah because it was absent from the Hebrew collection. The Catholic Council of Trent later named Baruch as canonical; the Church of England’s Article VI placed it among books read for instruction without establishing doctrine.^{7 sources}7 sources35. Alexandria 36. Jerusalem 37. 2 38. Edgecomb 14. (ed.)39. Waterworth 1848 40. England 1919

Kept

Early church: Greek

Athanasius and Cyril included Baruch within Jeremiah, rather than placing it in a separate category of useful reading.^{35 36 37}

Catholic

Trent explicitly counted Baruch among sacred and canonical books. Gigot distinguishes that definition from arguments about who composed it.^{39 12}

Orthodox

The Orthodox Church in America reads Baruch’s appearance-on-earth passage as foreseeing the Incarnation and reports its use on the eve of the Nativity.⁴¹

Left out

Early church: Latin

Jerome omitted Baruch from his translation of Jeremiah, saying that it was neither read nor found among the Hebrews.^{38 14}

Protestant: Anglican

Article VI names Baruch among books read for instruction without using them to establish doctrine.⁴⁰

Misconceptions

Myth A five-chapter Baruch is missing its ending.
Actually: The Letter of Jeremiah is a separate work printed as Baruch 6 in Catholic Bibles and the KJV Apocrypha, but separately in Brenton.⁵

Sources

41 sources from 34 works

1
Baruch 1:15↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g
2
Baruch 3:9↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g ↩^h ↩ⁱ
3
Baruch 4:5↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
Crawford Howell Toy, “Baruch, Book of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1902)”
- 4
  Contents↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
- 9
  Date of First Part↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
- 13
  Origin↩
- 25
  Date and Authorship↩
5
Checked in this site's verse database: Chapters and verses of Bar (Brenton)↩^a ↩^b
How this was derived
select count(distinct chapter), count(*) from verses where work_id='brenton' and book='Bar'
6
Baruch 1:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
7
Baruch 1:2↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
8
Baruch 1:3↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
R. H. Charles (ed.), O. C. Whitehouse on 1 Baruch, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), 1 Baruch, Introduction section 8
- 10
  p. 573-574↩
- 11
  p. 574↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
- 26
  p. 573↩
Francis Gigot, “Baruch (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2, 1907)”
- 12
  authorship↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
- 15
  original language↩
- 18
  second paragraph↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
14
R. H. Charles (ed.), O. C. Whitehouse on 1 Baruch, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), 1 Baruch, Introduction section 10, p. 579↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
16
Baruch 3:36↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
17
Baruch 4:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
19
Jeremiah 36:4↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
20
Jeremiah 36:10↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
21
Jeremiah 36:32↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
22
Jeremiah 45:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
23
Daniel 9:7↩
24
R. H. Charles (ed.), O. C. Whitehouse on 1 Baruch, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), 1 Baruch, Introduction, p. 570↩
27
Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), Article VI, as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919)↩
28
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter I.2–3↩
29
Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures↩
30
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament (Septuagint text)↩
31
NRSV with Apocrypha, 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament' (To the Reader)↩^a ↩^b
32
Russian Synodal Bible, as published by Azbuka Very (azbyka.ru): contents and chapter notes↩
33
The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (St Philaret of Moscow), 'Examined and Approved by the Most Holy Governing Synod'; English as in Schaff, Creeds of Christendom vol. 2↩
34
R. W. Cowley, 'The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today', Ostkirchliche Studien 23 (1974) 318–323↩
35
Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 39 (NPNF series 2, vol. 4), section 4↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
36
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 4 (NPNF series 2, vol. 7), 4.35↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
37
Synod of Laodicea (NPNF series 2, vol. 14), Canons of Laodicea, canon 60, canon 60↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
38
Jerome (tr. Kevin P. Edgecomb, public domain), Prologue to Jeremiah, prologue↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
39
Council of Trent (tr. J. Waterworth, 1848), Session IV, Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures, Hanover Historical Texts Project (1848)↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
40
Church of England, Articles of Religion (1571), as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919), newscriptorium.com (1919), Article VI↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
41
Orthodox Church in America, “Prophet Baruch (Lives of the Saints, 28 September)”, life↩^a ↩^b ↩^c

Baruch

At a glance

Summary

Contents

The exiles confess and pray

Where wisdom is found

Encouragement for Jerusalem

Stories

Baruch reads in Babylon

Wisdom becomes a gift to Israel

Connections to the Bible

Echoes and allusions

Shared figures

Where each church stands

Baruch Full table →

Why some kept it, why others left it out

Kept

Early church: Greek

Catholic

Orthodox

Left out

Early church: Latin

Protestant: Anglican

Misconceptions

Further reading

Sources

Report a problem

At a glance

Summary

Contents

The exiles confess and pray

Where wisdom is found

Encouragement for Jerusalem

Stories

Baruch reads in Babylon

Wisdom becomes a gift to Israel

Connections to the Bible

Echoes and allusions

Shared figures

Where each church stands

Baruch Full table →

Why some kept it, why others left it out

Kept

Early church: Greek

Catholic

Orthodox

Left out

Early church: Latin

Protestant: Anglican

Misconceptions

Related books

Further reading

Sources

Report a problem