Baruch’s Farewell Address

1 And I, Baruch, went away from there and came to the people, and gathered them together from the greatest to the least, and said to them: 2 ‘Hear, you children of Israel, see how many you are who remain of the twelve tribes of Israel. 3 For to you and to your fathers the Lord gave a law more excellent than to all peoples. 4 And because your brethren transgressed the commandments of the Most High, He brought vengeance upon you and upon them, And He spared not the former, And the latter also He gave into captivity: And He left not a residue of them, 5 But look, you are here with me. 6 If, therefore, you direct your ways correctly, You also shall not depart as your brethren departed, But they shall come to you. 7 For He is merciful whom you worship, And He is gracious in whom you hope, And He is true, so that He shall do good and not evil.⁠a 8 Have you not seen here what has happened to Zion? 9 Or do you perhaps think that the place had sinned, And that on this account it was overthrown? Or that the land had acted foolishly, And that therefore it was delivered up? 10 And do you not know that on account of you who did sin, That which did not sin was overthrown, And, on account of those who worked wickedly, That which did not act foolishly was delivered up to its enemies?’ 11 And the whole people answered and said to me: ‘So far as we can recall the good things which the Mighty One has done for us, we do recall them; and those things which we do not remember He in His mercy knows. 12 Nevertheless, do this for us your people: write also to our brethren in Babylon an epistle of doctrine and a scroll of hope, that you may confirm them also before you depart from us. 13 For the shepherds of Israel have perished, And the lamps which gave light are extinguished, And the fountains have withheld their stream from which we used to drink. 14 And we are left in the darkness, And among the trees of the forest, And the thirst of the wilderness.’ 15 And I answered and said to them: ‘Shepherds and lamps and fountains come from the law: And though we depart, yet the law abides. 16 If therefore you have respect for the law, And are intent upon wisdom, A lamp will not be lacking, And a shepherd will not fail, And a fountain will not dry up. 17 Nevertheless, as you said to me, I will write also to your brethren in Babylon, and I will send by means of men, and I will write in like manner to the nine tribes and a half, and send by means of a bird.’

Letters to the Exiles

18 And it came to pass on the twenty-first day in the eighth month that I, Baruch, came and sat down under the oak under the shadow of its branches, and no man was with me, but I was alone. 19 And I wrote these two letters: one I sent by an eagle to the nine and a half tribes; and the other I sent to those that were at Babylon by means of three men. 20 And I called the eagle and spoke these words to it: 21 ‘The Most High has made you that you should be higher than all birds. 22 And now go and do not wait in any place, nor enter a nest, nor settle upon any tree, until you have passed over the breadth of the many waters of the river Euphrates, and have gone to the people that dwell there, and cast down to them this letter. 23 Remember, moreover, that, at the time of the flood, Noah received from a dove the fruit of the olive, when he sent it forth from the ark. 24 Yes, also the ravens served Elijah, bringing him food, as they had been commanded. Solomon also, in the time of his kingdom, wherever he wished to send or seek for anything, commanded a bird to go there, and it obeyed him as he commanded it. 25 And now let it not weary you, and do not turn to the right hand or the left, but fly and go by a direct way, that you may preserve the command of the Mighty One, according as I said to you.’