2 Baruch

Historical printed page 521

II] BARUCH 77. 14—78. 5 14 And weare left in the darkness, And amid the {trees of the forest}, And the thirst of the wilderness.’ 15 And I answered and said unto them: ‘Shepherds and lamps and fountains come from the law: And though we depart, yet the law abideth. 16 Iftherefore ye have 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. 11 Nevertheless, as ye said unto me, I will write also unto your 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 18a bird.’ And 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 19 I was alone. And I wrote these two epistles: one I sent by an eagle to the nine and a half tribes; 20 and the other I sent to those that were at Babylon by means of three men. And I called the eagle 21 and spake these words unto it: ‘ The Most High hath made thee that thou shouldst be higher than 22all birds. And 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 hast gone to the _ 23 people that dwell there, and cast down to them this epistle. Remember, 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. 24, 25 Yea, also the ravens ministered to Elijah, bearing him food, as they had been commanded. Solo- mon also, in the time of his kingdom, whithersoever he wished to send or seek for anything, 26 commanded a bird (to go thither), and it obeyed him as he commanded it. And now let it not weary thee, and turn not to the right hand nor the left, but fly and go by a direct way, that thou mayst preserve the command of the Mighty One, according as I said unto thee.’ LXXVIII-LXXXVI. THE EPISTLE OF BARUCH THE SON OF NERIAH WHICH HE - WROTE TO THE NINE AND A HALF TRIBES. 1 These are the words of that epistle which Baruch the son of Neriah sent to the nine and a half 2 tribes, which were across the river Euphrates, in which these things were written. Thus saith Baruch 3 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 4 all educated us. And truly I know that behold all we the twelve tribes are bound by one bond, 5 inasmuch as we are born from one father. Wherefore I have been the more careful to leave you the words of this epistle before I die, that ye may be comforted regarding the evils which have come upon you, and that ye may be grieved also regarding the evil that has befallen your brethren; and again, also, that ye may justify His judgement which He has decreed against you that ye should be 14. left in the darkness: xlvi. 2; 4 Ezra xiv. 20. +trees = "SY, possibly corrupt for ‘ASP =‘toils’, But whether this is so or not, the general sense is clear. In verse 13 three things have been Jost: shepherds to guide the people, lamps to give light to them, and fountains to satisfy their thirst. Now, owing to the loss of the lamps, the people are ‘left in darkness’, owing to the loss of the fountains they suffer from the ‘thirst of the wilderness’.. Hence the second line must deal with the evils that followed on the loss of the shepherds, and its restoration must satisfy this requirement. Accordingly I offer the following suggestion : that hasy MLos is corrupt for μοι.» ¢© -- without pasture’, or ‘ without a shepherd ’. 16. shepherd. So Ceriani emends μα =‘ mind’, into bh. 17. by means of men. In 4 Baruch an eagle carries Baruch’s letter to Jeremiah at Babylon. 21. Cf. 4 Baruch vii. 3: ‘ Elect above all the birds of heaven.’ 23. Cf. Gen. viii. 11; 4 Baruch vii. 10. LXXVIII. 1. The nine and a half tribes. In this book the tribes of Israel carried away by the king of Assyria are always so designated, except in i. 2. Cf. John Malalas 158. In 4 Ezra xiii. 40 they are called ‘ the ten tribes’ in the Latin version, ‘ the nine and a half tribes’ in the Syriac and Arabic versions, and ‘the nine tribes’ in the Ethiopic version. 2. Mercy and peace + ‘unto you’c. Cf. 1 Tim. i. 2. 3. In the genuine parts of B? Baruch speaks frequently in the first person singular, but not in the interpolated portions. 5. justify. See xxi. 9, note. Cf. Ps. li. 4. 521