I. aAnd these are the words of the book, which bBaruch the son of cNerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Asadias, the son of Chelcias, wrote in Babylon, 2 in dthe fifth year, and din the seventh day of the month, what time as the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire. 3 And bBaruch did read the words of this book in the hearing of eJechonias the son of * Joachim king of Juda, and in the ears of all the people that came to hear the book, 4 and in the hearing of the nobles, and of the kings’ sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and of all the people, ffrom the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon, by the river Sud. 5 Whereupon they wept, fasted, * and prayed before the Lord. 6 They made also a collection of money gaccording to every man’s power: 7 and they sent it to Jerusalem unto * Joachim the high priest, the son of hChelcias, son of iSalom, and to the priests, and to all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem, 8 at the same time when he received kthe vessels of the house of the Lord, that were carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month lSivan, namely, msilver vessels, which nSedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made, 9 after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon dhad carried away eJechonias, and the princes, and the * captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought them unto Babylon.

10 And they said, Behold, we have sent you omoney to buy you pburnt offerings, and qsin offerings, and rincense, and prepare ye * manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God; 11 and spray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of tBalthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as uthe days of heaven: 12 and the Lord will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we shall live xunder the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and under the shadow of tBalthasar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and yfind favour in their sight. 13 Pray for us also unto the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God; and unto this day the fury of the Lord and his wrath is not turned from us. 14 And ye shall read zthis book which we have sent unto you, to make confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and solemn days. 15 And ye shall say,

aTo the Lord our God belongeth righteousness, but unto us bthe confusion of faces, ias it is come to pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 16 and to our ckings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers: 17 for dwe have sinned before the Lord, 18 dand disobeyed him, and ehave not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, eto walk in the commandments that he gave us openly: 19 since the day that the Lord brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, unto this present day, we have been disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not hearing his voice. 20 Wherefore fthe evils cleaved unto us, and gthe curse, which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us ha land that floweth with milk and honey, like ias it is to see this day. 21 eNevertheless we have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, kaccording unto all the words of the prophets, whom he sent unto us: 22 but every man followed the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve lstrange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.