¹And I, Baruch, went there and came unto the people, and assembled them together from the greatest to the least, and said unto them:

²'Hear, you children of Israel, behold how many thou art who remain of the twelve tribes of Israel.

³For unto thee and to thy fathers the Lord gave a law more excellent than to all peoples.

⁴And because thy brethren transgressed the commandments of the Most High, And He spared not the former, And the latter also He gave into captivity: And He left not a residue of them,

⁵But behold! thou art here with me.

⁶If, therefore, you direct thy ways aright, Ye also shall not depart as thy brethren departed, But they shall come unto thee.

⁷For 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.

⁸Hast thou not seen here what has befallen Zion?

⁹Or dost thou perchance think that the place had sinned, And that on this account it was overthrown? Or that the land had wrought foolishness, And that therefore it was delivered up?

¹⁰And know you not that on account of you who did sin, That which sinned not was overthrown, And, on account of those who wrought wickedly, That which wrought not foolishness was delivered up to (its) enemies?'

¹¹And the whole people answered and said unto me: 'So far as we can recall the good things which the Mighty One has done unto us, we do recall them; and those things which we do not remember He in His mercy knoweth.

¹²Nevertheless, do this for us thy people: write also to our brethren in Babylon an epistle of doctrine and a scroll of hope, that you may confirm them also before thou dost depart from us.

¹³For the shepherds of Israel have perished, And the lamps which gave light are extinguished, And the fountains have withheld their stream whence we used to drink.

¹⁴And we are left in the darkness, And amid the trees of the forest, And the thirst of the wilderness.'

¹⁵And I answered and said unto them 'Shepherds and lamps and fountains come from the law: And though we depart, yet the law abides.

¹⁶If therefore thou hast respect to the law, And are intent upon wisdom, A lamp will not be wanting, And a shepherd will not fail, And a fountain will not dry up.

¹⁷Nevertheless, as you said unto me, I will write also unto thy 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.'

¹⁸And it came to pass on the one and twentieth day in the eighth month that I, Baruch, came and sat down under the oak under the shadow of the branches, and no man was with me, but I was alone.

¹⁹And I wrote these two epistles: 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.

²⁰And I called the eagle and spake these words unto it:

²¹'The Most High hath made you that you should be higher than all birds.

²²And now go and tarry not in (any) place, nor enter a nest, nor settle upon any tree, till thou hast 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 epistle.

²³Remember, moreover, that, at the time of the deluge, Noah received from a dove the fruit of the olive, when he sent it forth from the ark.

²⁴Yea, also the ravens ministered to Elijah, bearing him food, as they had been commanded.

²⁵Solomon also, in the time of his kingdom, whithersoever he wished to send or seek for anything, commanded a bird (to go thither), and it obeyed him as he commanded it.

²⁶And now let it not weary you, and turn not to the right hand nor the left, but fly and go by a direct way, that you may preserve the command of the Mighty One, according as I said unto you.'