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Fourth Baruch is apseudepigraphical text of theOld Testament.Paralipomena of Jeremiah appears as the title in severalAncient Greek manuscripts of the work, meaning "things left out of (the Book of) Jeremiah."[3] It is part of theEthiopian Orthodox Bible.
4 Baruch is usually dated to the first half of the 2nd century AD. Abimelech's sleep of 66 years, instead of the usual 70 years ofBabylonian captivity, makes scholars tend toward the year AD 136, that is, 66 years after the fall of theSecond Temple in AD 70. This dating is coherent with the message of the text.[4]
The text is known in both full-length and reduced versions. The full-length versions came down to us inGreek (older manuscripts dated 10th–11th centuries[4] and 15th century[5]), inEthiopic Ge'ez (titledRest of the Words of Baruch, the older manuscript dated to the 15th century), inArmenian,[6] and inSlavic.[7] The shortened versions have come down to us inGreek (namedMeneo),Romanian andSlavic.[8]
Some parts of 4 Baruch appear to have been added in the Christian era, such as the last chapter; due to these insertions, some scholars consider 4 Baruch to have Christian origins.[4]
4 Baruch uses a simple andfable-like style, with speech-making animals, fruit that never rots, and an eagle sent by the Lord that revives the dead.
The Lord reveals toJeremiah thatJerusalem will be destroyed because of the impiety of the Israelites. Jeremiah informsBaruch, and that night they see angels open the door to the city. Jeremiah is instructed by the Lord to miraculously hide in the earth the vestments of the high priest of the Temple. The Chaldeans enter Jerusalem, and Jeremiah follows the Israelites into exile, while Baruch remains in Jerusalem. Abimelech (= Ebedmelech the Ethiopian ofJeremiah 38:7) falls asleep for 66 years and awakens next to a basket of figs, preserved perfectly fresh. Because the figs are fresh out of season, Abimelech realizes that he slept for years miraculously. Abimelech reunites with Baruch. They want to communicate with Jeremiah, who is still in Babylon, so Baruch prays to the Lord, who sends him an eagle. The eagle takes a letter and some of the figs to Jeremiah. It finds Jeremiah officiating at a funeral and alights on the corpse, bringing it back to life, thus announcing the end of the exile. The Israelites return to Jerusalem, but only those men who have no foreign wives are allowed to pass the Jordan.
Like thegreater prophets, 4 Baruch advocates the divorce of foreign wives and exile of those who will not do so. According to 4 Baruch, theSamaritans are the descendants of such mixed marriages.
Fourth Baruch is regarded aspseudepigraphical by all Christian churches, except theEthiopian Orthodox Church (seeRest of the Words of Baruch).
The Jewish pseudepigraphical textHistory of the Captivity in Babylon belongs to the cycle of Baruch and is related to 4 Baruch. It is longer and probably older than 4 Baruch.[9][10] It has very few and circumscribed Christian insertions and does not have thefable-like style of 4 Baruch. Abimelech's sleep is here of 70 years, the usual duration of theBabylonian captivity. The originalGreek is lost, but we haveSahidic Coptic manuscripts[11] and, even if less ancient,ArabicGarshuni manuscripts[12]
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