¹These are the words of that epistle which Baruch the son of Neriah sent unto the nine and a half tribes, which were across the river Euphrates, in which these things were written.

²Thus saith Baruch the son of Neriah to the brethren carried into captivity: 'Mercy and peace.' I bear in mind, my brethren, the love of Him who created us, who loved us from of old, and never hated us, but above all educated us.

³And truly I know that behold all we the twelve tribes are bound by one bond, inasmuch as we are born from one father.

⁴Wherefore I have been the more careful to leave you the words of this epistle before I die, that you may be comforted regarding the evils which have come upon thee, and that you may be grieved also regarding the evil that hath befallen thy brethren; and again, also, that you may justify His judgment which

⁵He hath decreed against thee that you should be carried away captive-for what thou hast suffered is disproportioned to what thou hast done-that, at the last times, you may be found worthy of thy fathers.

⁶Therefore, if you consider that ye have now suffered those things for thy good, that you may not finally be condemned and tormented, then thou shalt receive eternal hope; if above all you destroy from thy heart vain error, on account of which you departed hence.

⁷For if you so do these things, He will continually remember you, He who always promised on our behalf to those who were more excellent than we, that He will never forget or forsake us, but with much mercy will gather together again those who were dispersed.