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4 Baruch
4 Baruch, also called the Paralipomena of Jeremiah ("things left out of Jeremiah"), is a short story set at the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. It follows Jeremiah, Baruch and Abimelech (Ebed-melech) through the destruction, the hiding of the temple vessels, a 66-year miraculous sleep, a letter carried by an eagle, and the return from exile. People read it to see how Jews and early Christians dealt with the loss of the temple in AD 70, and for its early, vivid hope of resurrection.
- early 2nd century AD
- Greek
- Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian
Part of the broader Ethiopian canon. Also called the Paralipomena of Jeremiah.
Should it be in the Bible?
The case for
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It is part of the scripture an ancient church still reads today.
The evidence
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's broader canon includes it, as "the Rest of the Words of Baruch" in the Baruch and Jeremiah group of books. August Dillmann published the Ge'ez text in 1866 from manuscripts that the Ethiopian church had been copying.
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Churches in many lands copied and valued it.
The evidence
It survives in two Greek versions, one longer and one shorter, and in Ethiopic, Armenian, Slavonic and Romanian. That many translations means Christian communities across the East kept it and read it for centuries.
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Its theology fits the Bible's own themes, and it is an early witness to them.
The evidence
Its main themes are God's judgment and mercy on Jerusalem, keeping apart from idolatry, the return from exile and the resurrection of the body, all found in Jeremiah, Ezra–Nehemiah and the New Testament. The fresh figs (ch. 5–6) and the corpse the eagle raises (ch. 7) are told as signs that God raises the dead. That makes it an early second-century witness to resurrection hope.
The case against
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No major canon list or early council ever included it.
The evidence
It is missing from the Muratorian fragment, Athanasius's list of 367, Hippo and Carthage, Trent and the Reformers' lists, and early Christian writers do not quote it as scripture. Even in Ethiopia it belongs only to the broader canon, not the narrower one.
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Its story conflicts with the book of Jeremiah and has historical mistakes.
The evidence
In 4 Baruch Jeremiah goes to Babylon and Baruch stays near Jerusalem, but Jeremiah 43:6–7 says both were taken to Egypt. It also places an "estate of Agrippa" in Jeremiah's day, though the Herodian Agrippas lived in the first century AD.
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It was written centuries after the events and was edited more than once.
The evidence
Scholars date it to the second century AD, more than 600 years after the fall of Jerusalem, and it seems to borrow from 2 Baruch or from traditions the two books share. Most scholars think the Christian ending (9:14–32) was added to an earlier Jewish story, and the two Greek versions differ.
Both sides are written as strongly as the honest evidence allows, so you can decide for yourself. Researched by claude-opus-5-5.
When, where and by whom
The book never names an author. In Ethiopian tradition it is read as "the rest of the words of Baruch," linked to Jeremiah's scribe in the 6th century BC. Most scholars date it to about AD 118–136, by a Jewish author in or near Judea writing after the temple fell in AD 70, and they think the ending about Jesus (9:14–32) was added or reworked by a Christian. They base the date mostly on the "66 years" of Abimelech's sleep (AD 70 + 66 = 136) and on the mention of "Agrippa's estate."
Jesus, the New Testament and this book
- Jeremiah lies as if dead for three days, then rises and prophesies about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, coming into the world and choosing twelve apostles (9:7–20). This is written to match Jesus' resurrection and ministry in the Gospels. (strong link)
- The ending calls Christ the light of the ages and the lamp that cannot go out. This echoes John 8:12 and 1:4–9. (likely link)
- Jeremiah's opponents stone him while he is speaking about Christ (9:21–32). This matches the tradition that prophets were stoned (Matthew 23:37; Hebrews 11:37) and the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. (likely link)
- Seeds and fruit as pictures of resurrection (the figs that stay fresh, ch. 6) are like Paul's seed picture in 1 Corinthians 15:35–44. (possible link)
- The temple vessels are hidden in the earth until God restores them (ch. 3), like the hidden ark in 2 Maccabees 2:4–8. Revelation 11:19 shows the ark in the heavenly temple. (possible link)
How it came down to us
No ancient manuscripts survive. The book comes down to us in medieval Greek manuscripts, which split into a longer and a shorter version. Robert Kraft and Ann-Elizabeth Purintun edited the Greek in 1972. The Ethiopian church copied it in Ge'ez, the oldest Ethiopian form, and there are also Armenian, Slavonic and Romanian versions. These were all kept by Eastern Christian communities, not by Jewish scribes.
- Greek text: R. A. Kraft and A.-E. Purintun, Paraleipomena Jeremiou (1972)
- Ge'ez text: A. Dillmann, Chrestomathia Aethiopica (1866)
- S. E. Robinson, "4 Baruch," in J. H. Charlesworth, ed., Old Testament Pseudepigrapha vol. 2 (1985)
- J. Herzer, 4 Baruch (Paraleipomena Jeremiou), SBL Writings from the Greco-Roman World (2005)
- Comparison with Jeremiah 43, 2 Baruch and 2 Maccabees 2
- Ancient canon lists: Muratorian fragment, Athanasius' Festal Letter 39, councils of Hippo and Carthage, Trent
- Studies of the Ethiopian broader canon