Guide
What Is the Second Book of Baruch?
Early 2nd Century
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The second book of Baruch, also called the Apocalypse of Baruch or the Syriac Apocalypse
of Baruch, is a pseudepigraphic text attributed to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe of the biblical
prophet Jeremiah. It was originally composed in Hebrew in the early second century CE but
survives only in a Syriac translation created from an intermediate Greek version. The narrative is set
at the time of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and may have been intended to serve as
a sequel to the book of Jeremiah.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
The Priests as False Stewards
2 Baruch 10:18
You, priests, take the keys of the sanctuary,
and cast them to the highest heaven,
and give them to the Lord and say,…
Primary Source
The Eschatological Temple
2 Baruch 4:1–5; 59:4
And the Lord said to me:
This city will be delivered up for a time,…
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Laments of Baruch for the Destruction of Jerusalem
2 Baruch 10:5–11:7; 35:1–4
[ . . . ] I, Baruch, came back and sat in front of the doors of the Temple, and I raised the following lamentation over Zion and said:Blessed is he who was not born,or he who was born and…
Primary Source
Baruch’s Prayer for Enlightenment
2 Baruch 54
And I asked the Mighty One and said:
You alone, O Lord, knew the heights of the world beforehand and that which will happen in the times which you bring about by your word. And…
Primary Source
Baruch’s Prayers for Divine Mercy on Israel
2 Baruch 48:1–24; 75:1–8
And it happened after seven days that I prayed before the Mighty One and said:
O Lord, you summon the coming of the times,and they…
Primary Source
Confusion and War
2 Baruch 70:2–71:1; 72:2–73:1
Behold, the days are coming and it will happen when the time of the world has ripened and the harvest of the seed of the evil ones…
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The Transformation of the Wicked and the Righteous
2 Baruch 49–51
But further, I ask you, O Mighty One; and I shall ask grace from him who created all things. In which shape will the living live in your day? Or how will remain their splendor which will…
Related Guide
What Are the Pseudepigrapha?
ca. 200 BCE–200 CE