BARUCH, BOOK OF (Βαρούχ). A book not found in the Heb. Bible, but only in the LXX (along with Lamentations, as a supplement to Jeremiah), and which thus also finds a place in the Apoc. This relatively brief book purports to be written by Baruch, the son of Neraiah, who is well known for his duties as secretary to Jeremiah (cf. Jer 36:4, 18, 32). It has appended to it the so-called Letter of Jeremiah (which is often numbered as ch. 6 of Baruch).

1. Content. Baruch is easily divided into the following sections: introduction (1:1-14); confession (1:15-2:10); prayer (2:11-3-8); poetical discourse on wisdom (3:9-4:4); songs of lament and encouragement (4:5-5:9). The introduction speaks of gathered exiles in Babylon who are sending to Jerusalem what money they have been able to collect in order to underwrite various offerings and make possible prayers for the well being of Nebuchadnezzar (and consequently their own). With the money and requests, however, a book of confession designed for periodical reading in the Temple is also to be sent. Thereupon follows the actual confession and penitential prayer. The confession (a declaration not addressed directly to the Lord, whose name occurs only in the third person) begins with an unmistakable allusion to Daniel 9:7f. and centers on the failure and disobedience of the men of Israel and Judah upon whom judgment has justly come from the Lord. This disobedience is regarded as nothing new, but as something which has continued since “the day when the Lord brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt until today” (Baruch 1:19). The prayer itself is a confession of sin and a plea for mercy and deliverance. Several quotations from the Book of Jeremiah are included (2:21=Jer 27:12; 2:23=Jer 7:34; 2:25=Jer 36:30) as well as a number of allusions to other OT writings, particularly Deuteronomy and Daniel. According to the prayer, the prophets were right in their warnings, yet they saw that during the Exile Israel would turn to the Lord (“in the land of their exile they will come to themselves” 2:30). The concluding plea for mercy suggests that the author regards his prayer, expressing the attitude of the people, as the fulfillment of this hope. The poetry on wisdom, which follows, asserts that the God of Israel alone possesses wisdom, but He has disclosed that wisdom to Israel in the form of the Law. Wisdom is thus equated with the Law and the conclusion naturally follows: “Happy are we, O Israel, for we know what is pleasing to God” (4:4). This passage on wisdom seems reminiscent of other wisdom poetry such as Proverbs 1-9 (cf. Job 28). The final section of the book combines lamentation and hope expressed in a passage spoken by personified Jerusalem (4:5-29), containing many allusions to Isaiah, followed by a response of encouragement spoken by the poet (4:30-5:9).

2. Unity, date and purpose. There is no intrinsic relationship between the first part of the book and the poetical sections of 3:9-5:9. Moreover, there are a number of clear terminological differences between these main sections of the book. Of the poetical sections, the passage on wisdom appears to be an independent entity unrelated to the material that follows. Quite prob., therefore, Baruch is composed of three separate pieces of lit. joined together by an editor who also presumably wrote or gave shape to the introductory material of the book. Thus the claim of the book (v. lf.) that it was written by Baruch in Babylon, five years after the fall of Jerusalem (=581 b.c.), is not to be taken as true. (A few historical discrepancies confirm this conclusion.) Rather, the component parts of the book derive prob. from much later times—usually the dates suggested range from the 2nd cent. b.c. to the 1st cent. of the Christian era, although there is little data available for making such determinations.

The third section of the book includes material common to the Psalms of Solomon (a pseudep. writing from the 1st cent. b.c.) but it cannot be established in which direction the dependence may lie or, indeed, whether both writings may be dependent on a common source.

The various sections have their own obvious purposes, which despite the claims of the introduction, find their origin and background in the late postexilic period. The message supposedly offered to the exiles has its applicability to the period of the composition and compilation of these writings: e.g., Israel is in need of confession and repentance; true wisdom is found in the law (cf. the contemporary book of Ecclesiasticus); encouragement and hope are possible in the most trying of times because the Lord is merciful and good to those who cry to Him. The book may possibly derive from a community of the Dispersion during this same period, in which case the restoration to Jerusalem may be from the Dispersion. However, the suggestion that the book reflects a post a.d. 70 milieu, and that Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar stand respectively for Rome, Vespasian and Titus is looked upon as improbable by the majority of scholars. The original language of most of the book, if not all of it, seems to have been Heb. It has been conjectured that the Gr. tr. was also responsible for the second half of Jeremiah according to the LXX.

3. Canonicity and text. Baruch is one of the books of the Apoc. finally accepted as canonical by the Roman Catholic Church in the decisions of the Council of Trent. The book never held a place in the Heb. Bible and thus was rejected as non-canonical by the early Christian Church. In the LXX, Baruch is generally placed immediately after Jeremiah preceding Lamentations, whereas in the Vul. (the Roman Catholic Bible) it follows Lamentations. The Gr. text is well attested, although not extant in Sinaiticus, and is readily obtainable in the standard editions of the LXX. English trs. are available in the standard editions of the Apoc., where the book, with the so-called Letter of Jeremiah, follows Ecclesiasticus.

See also Apocrypha.

Bibliography O. C. Whitehouse in R. H. Charles, APOT, I (1913), 569-595; W. O. E. Oesterley, The Books of the Apocrypha (1915), 495-506; H. St. J. Thackeray, The Septuagint and Jewish Worship (1923), 80-111; E. J. Goodspeed, The Story of the Apocrypha (1939), 100-104; R. H. Pfeiffer, History of New Testament Times with an Introduction to the Apocrypha (1949), 409-425; B. M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (1957), 89-94; L. H. Brockington, A Critical Introduction to the Apocrypha (1961), 85-89; O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction (1965), 592-594; R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (1969), 1238-1241.