¹And I, Baruch, went from thence, and came to my people, and I called my first-born son and [the Gedaliahs] my friends, and seven of the elders of the people, and I said unto them:

²Behold, I go unto my fathers According to the way of all the earth.

³But withdraw you not from the way of the law, But guard and admonish the people which remain, Lest they withdraw from the commandments of the Mighty One.

⁴For thou seest that He whom we serve is just, And our Creator is no respecter of persons.

⁵And see you what hath befallen Zion, And what hath happened to Jerusalem.

⁶For the judgment of the Mighty One shall (thereby) be made known, And His ways, which, though past finding out, are right.

⁷For if you endure and persevere in His fear, And do not forget His law, The times shall change over thee for good. And thou shalt see the consolation of Zion.

⁸Because whatever is now is nothing, But that which shall be is very great. For everything that is corruptible shall pass away,

⁹And everything that dies shall depart, And all the present time shall be forgotten, Nor shall there be any remembrance of the present time, which is defiled with evils.

¹⁰For that which runs now runs unto vanity, And that which prospers shall quickly fall and be humiliated.

¹¹For that which is to be shall be the object of desire, And for that which cometh afterwards shall we hope; For it is a time that passeth not away,

¹²And the hour cometh which abides for ever. And the new world (cometh) which does not turn to corruption those who depart to its blessedness, And has no mercy on those who depart to torment, And leads not to perdition those who live in it.

¹³For these are they who shall inherit that time which hath been spoken of, And theirs is the inheritance of the promised time.

¹⁴These are they who have acquired for themselves treasures of wisdom, And with them are found stores of understanding, And from mercy have they not withdrawn, And the truth of the law I have they preserved.

¹⁵For to them shall be given the world to come, But the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire.'