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.