¹Verily I Baruch was weeping in mine heart and sorrowing on account of the people, and that

²Nebuchadnezzar the king was suffered of God to destroy His city, saying: Lord, wherefore didst Thou set on fire Thy vineyard, and lay it waste? Wherefore didst Thou do this? And why, Lord, didst Thou not requite us with another chastisement, but didst deliver us unto nations such as these, so that they reproach us and say, Where is their God? And behold as I was weeping and saying such things, I beheld an angel of the Lord coming and saying unto me: Understand, O man, greatly beloved, and trouble not thyself so greatly concerning the salvation of Jerusalem; for thus saith the Lord God, the Almighty. For He sent me before thee, to make known and to shew unto thee all the things of God. For thy prayer was heard before Him, and entered into the ears of the Lord God. And when he had spoken these things unto me, I was silent. And the angel said unto me: Cease to provoke

³God, and I will shew thee other mysteries, greater than these. And I Baruch said, As the Lord God liveth, if thou wilt shew me, and I hear a word of thine, I will not continue to speak any longer.

⁴God shall add unto my judgement in the day of judgement, if I speak hereafter. And the angel of the powers said unto me, Come, and I will shew thee the mysteries of God.