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2 Baruch

Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

About this book

The Resurrection and the Transformed Body

Chapter 50

1 And He answered and said to me: ‘Hear, Baruch, this word, And write in the remembrance of your heart all that you shall learn. 2 For the earth shall then surely restore the dead, which it now receives, in order to preserve them. It shall make no change in their form, But as it has received, so shall it restore them, And as I delivered them to it, so also shall it raise them.⁠ 3 For then it will be necessary to show to the living that the dead have come to life again, and that those who had departed have returned again. 4 And it shall come to pass, when they have each recognized those whom they now know, then judgement shall grow strong, and those things which before were spoken of shall come.

Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Baruch 50:2 and Revelation 20:13

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation describes the sea, death, and hades giving up the dead, similar to 2 Baruch where the underworld releases souls like giving birth to a child. These traditions describe resurrection with hidden realms surrendering their dead to be judged.

Passages

2 Baruch 50:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch
1 And He answered and said to me: ‘Hear, Baruch, this word, And write in the remembrance of your heart all that you shall learn. 2 For the earth shall then surely restore the dead, which it now receives, in order to preserve them. It shall make no change in their form, But as it has received, so shall it restore them, And as I delivered them to it, so also shall it raise them. 3 For then it will be necessary to show to the living that the dead have come to life again, and that those who had departed have returned again. 4 And it shall come to pass, when they have each recognized those whom they now know, then judgement shall grow strong, and those things which before were spoken of shall come.
70–135 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Baruch

Revelation 20:13

New Testament
11 Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... Jewett points out that Paul’s maternal personification of creation may have been influenced by Roman depictions of Mother Earth—for example, on the Ara Pacis in Rome—although he contrasts her relaxed posture there with the mood of “eager expectation” (ἀποκαραδοκία) that Paul attributes to creation (8:19). He also mentions as parallel the personification of the earth in the Book of the Watchers, where the earth cries out to heaven on behalf of her inhabitants, who are being devoured by the giants (1 Enoch 7:6, 9:2). Joseph R. Dodson compares the personification of creation in Romans with that in the Wisdom of Solomon, but he finds that the personified creation behaves in quite different ways in the two works. These comparisons are helpful, but much more illuminating parallels can be found in 4 Ezra. Some of the aforementioned analogies by which Uriel explains eschatological matters to Ezra compare the earth to a pregnant woman. For example, in response to a question from Ezra about a possible delay of the final judgment, Uriel answers, “Go and ask a woman who is with child if, when her nine months have been completed, her womb can keep the child within her any longer” (4:40). After Ezra answers that it cannot, Uriel draws out the analogy: “The underworld and the treasuries of the souls are like the womb. For just as a woman who is in travail makes haste to escape the pangs of birth, so also do these [places] hasten to give back those things that were committed to them from the beginning” (4:41–42; compare 1 Enoch 51:1; 2 Baruch 30:2, 50:2) ..."
Karina M. Hogan, “The Apocalyptic Eschatology of Romans,” in The Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the Shaping of New Testament Thought, ed. Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), 155–174.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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2 Baruch 50:2 and Revelation 20:13

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