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2 Baruch

Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

About this book
Chapter 51

1 And it shall come to pass, when that appointed day has gone by, that then shall the appearance of those who are condemned be afterwards changed, and the glory of those who are justified. 2 For the appearance of those who now act wickedly shall become worse than it is, as they shall suffer torment. 3 Also as for the glory of those who have now been justified in My law, who have had understanding in their life, and who have planted in their heart the root of wisdom, then their splendour shall be glorified in changes, and the form of their face shall be turned into the light of their beauty, that they may be able to acquire and receive the world which does not die, which is then promised to them.⁠ 4 For over this above all shall those who come then lament, that they rejected My law, and stopped their ears that they might not hear wisdom or receive understanding. 5 When therefore they see those, over whom they are now exalted, but who shall then be exalted and glorified more than they, they shall respectively be transformed, the latter into the splendour of angels, and the former shall yet more waste away in wonder at the visions and in the beholding of the forms.⁠ 6 For they shall first behold and afterwards depart to be tormented. 7 But those who have been saved by their works. And to whom the law has been now a hope, And understanding an expectation, And wisdom a confidence, Shall wonders appear in their time. 8 For they shall behold the world which is now invisible to them, And they shall behold the time which is now hidden from them: 9 And time shall no longer age them. 10 For in the heights of that world shall they dwell,⁠ And they shall be made like the angels, And be made equal to the stars, And they shall be changed into every form they desire, From beauty into loveliness, And from light into the splendour of glory. 11 For there shall be spread before them the extents of Paradise, and there shall be shown to them the beauty of the majesty of the living creatures which are beneath the throne, and all the armies of the angels, who are now held fast by My word, so that they do not appear, and are held fast by a command, that they may stand in their places until their time comes. 12 Moreover, there shall then be excellence in the righteous surpassing that in the angels. 13 For the first shall receive the last, those whom they were expecting, and the last those of whom they used to hear that they had passed away. 14 For they have been delivered from this world of tribulation, And laid down the burden of anguish. 15 For what then have men lost their life, And for what have those who were on the earth exchanged their soul?⁠ 16 For then they did not choose for themselves this time, Which, beyond the reach of anguish, could not pass away: But they chose for themselves that time, Whose outcomes are full of lamentations and evils, And they denied the world which does not age those who come to it, And they rejected the time of glory, So that they shall not come to the honour of which I told you before.’

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 2 Baruch 51:10

New Testament · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul describes resurrection through different kinds of bodies and the brightness of heavenly lights. 2 Baruch similarly connects resurrection with transformed bodies and heavenly splendor, reflecting shared Jewish imagery.

Passages

1 Corinthians 15:51

New Testament
39 All flesh is not the same: People have one flesh, animals have another, birds and fish another. 40 And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the heavenly body is one sort and the earthly another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. 42 It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

2 Baruch 51:10

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch
4 For over this above all shall those who come then lament, that they rejected My law, and stopped their ears that they might not hear wisdom or receive understanding. 5 When therefore they see those, over whom they are now exalted, but who shall then be exalted and glorified more than they, they shall respectively be transformed, the latter into the splendour of angels, and the former shall yet more waste away in wonder at the visions and in the beholding of the forms. 6 For they shall first behold and afterwards depart to be tormented. 7 But those who have been saved by their works. And to whom the law has been now a hope, And understanding an expectation, And wisdom a confidence, Shall wonders appear in their time. 8 For they shall behold the world which is now invisible to them, And they shall behold the time which is now hidden from them: 9 And time shall no longer age them. 10 For in the heights of that world shall they dwell, And they shall be made like the angels, And be made equal to the stars, And they shall be changed into every form they desire, From beauty into loveliness, And from light into the splendour of glory.
70–135 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Baruch

References

"... Just as there are a surprising number of parallels between 1 Enoch and the New Testament texts, so also for 2 Baruch, although there are no direct quotations. The common motifs evidently arise from the same thought world ... Goff goes so far as to say that the resurrection and end of time discussion in 1 Corinthians 15 is very similar to 2 Baruch 29–30 ..."
Lawrence M. Wills, Introduction to the Apocrypha: Jewish Books in Christian Bibles (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021), 215–16.

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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1 Corinthians 15:51 and 2 Baruch 51:10

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