Scriptures & Texts

Book of Baruch

Deuterocanonical Books

A short composite book presented as the work of Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe of Jeremiah, and set among the exiles in Babylon. It gathers a confession of national sin, a poem in praise of Wisdom identified with the law, and words of consolation to Jerusalem, in a Greek that appears to translate a lost Hebrew original in its opening chapters. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles receive it as deuterocanonical, usually placing it after Jeremiah or Lamentations; Judaism and Protestantism do not count it as scripture. In the Catholic arrangement the Letter of Jeremiah is attached as its sixth chapter, while the Orthodox and Protestant traditions keep the Letter as a separate work, one of several points at which the same material is divided differently by the canon that prints it.

Facts

Origins

Era of Composition

200 BCE to 100 BCE 1

Language

Biblical Hebrew 1

Attributed Author / Compiler

An anonymous composite, c. 2nd-1st c. BCE (critical) 1

Attributed Author / Compiler

Baruch ben Neriah, scribe of Jeremiah (traditional) 1

Status

Canonical Statusthe subject's own account

Deuterocanonical 2Roman Catholicism

Canonical Statusthe subject's own account

Deuterocanonical 3Eastern Orthodoxy

Canonical Status

Non-canonical 1Judaism

Text

Literary Form

Wisdom literature 1

Structure

5 chapters (Letter of Jeremiah forms ch. 6 in Catholic bibles) 4

Structure

Confession, wisdom poem, and consolation 4

Learn More

The Book of Jeremiah's Scribe

The Book of Baruch is a short work attributed to Baruch ben Neriah, the faithful secretary of the prophet Jeremiah, and set in Babylon among the exiles after the fall of Jerusalem. It presents itself as written by Baruch and read aloud to the exiled community, and it interweaves several distinct kinds of material: an opening narrative and a long prayer of confession, in which the exiles acknowledge that their suffering is the just consequence of the nation's sin; a poem in praise of divine Wisdom, identified with the Law of Moses, closely echoing the wisdom literature; and a concluding section of consolation, in which Jerusalem, personified as a bereaved mother, is comforted and promised the return of her scattered children. Though ascribed to Baruch in the sixth century BCE, the book is generally regarded by scholars as a composite work assembled considerably later, probably in the second century BCE, from originally separate pieces, and drawing heavily on the language of Jeremiah, Daniel and Isaiah. It was transmitted in Greek, though parts may rest on a Hebrew original.

Canon and the Letter of Jeremiah

The Book of Baruch belongs to the deuterocanonical Scriptures received by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and to the Apocrypha as reckoned by Judaism and the Protestant tradition, which follow the Hebrew canon in which it does not appear. In many Bibles it is closely associated with the Letter of Jeremiah, a separate anti-idolatry composition that Catholic tradition appends as the sixth chapter of Baruch, while other traditions keep the two apart.

Because of its attribution to Jeremiah's companion and its Jeremianic tone, Baruch was often treated in antiquity as closely bound up with the prophetic book, and its themes (the justice of God in the exile, repentance, the identification of Wisdom with the Torah, and hope for restoration), made it valued in both Jewish and Christian devotion. The Catholic and Orthodox churches read it liturgically, particularly in seasons of penitence and at the Easter vigil. Scholars study Baruch as a characteristic product of Second Temple Judaism's reflection on the meaning of the exile, and as an example of how the memory and authority of the classical prophets were extended in later writings.

Connections

Attributed To

Baruch ben Neriah

Source Book of Baruch (Wikipedia)

Authored By

Baruch ben Neriah

Source Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent): Baruch

Held Differently

Anglican Communion

Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571, among the books the Church reads for example of life and instruction of manners but does not apply to establish any doctrine. Printed and appointed to be read, at a status deliberately short of the canon affirmed at Trent in 1546.

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

Anglicanism

Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571, among the books the Church of England reads for example of life and instruction of manners, but does not apply to establish doctrine, a status short of full doctrinal canon.

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

Church of England

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

Church of Ireland

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

The Episcopal Church

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

Church of Sweden

Not canonized, but retained. Luther gathered the deuterocanonical books into a separate Apocrypha section of his 1534 Bible, headed as not equal to Holy Scripture yet good and useful to read, and Lutheran Bibles have printed and read them there since.

Source An Introduction to the ApocryphaBruce M. Metzger

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Source An Introduction to the ApocryphaBruce M. Metzger

Lutheranism

Lutheranism does not canonize Book of Baruch. Luther placed the deuterocanonical books in a separate section of his 1534 Bible as good and useful to read, but not equal to scripture.

Source An Introduction to the ApocryphaBruce M. Metzger