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- Biblical book: The Book of Baruch, also called 1 Baruch, belongs to Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Old Testaments.
- Separate works: 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch and 4 Baruch are distinct writings, not successive volumes of the biblical book.
- Dates: The biblical work is generally assigned to the Second Temple period; the other writings are usually associated with the first and second centuries CE.
- Another Baruch: The gnostic Book of Baruch presents Baruch as an angelic revealer and survives through an account of another teacher's work.
The books of Baruch are several distinct writings associated with Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, but only The Book of Baruch belongs to Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Old Testaments. The other works comprise two apocalypses, a narrative about Jerusalem's fall and exile, and a gnostic account in which Baruch is an angelic revealer. Their shared name does not establish common authorship, and their numbering does not make them a single ancient series.
This guide separates the titles first, then explains their usual dates and attributions, their contents, and their different biblical standing. It then traces the surviving texts and closes with related guides, followed by answers to common questions about Baruch and the writings bearing his name.
What are the books of Baruch?
The biblical figure behind most of these attributions is Baruch son of Neriah, identified in Jeremiah as the prophet's scribe. His name connects writings that take quite different forms. The Book of Baruch is called 1 Baruch when a distinction is needed, but that numbering should not be understood as the opening volume of a work continued by the other numbered books.
The titles also preserve useful distinctions. 2 Baruch is commonly called the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, while 3 Baruch is the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch. 4 Baruch has the alternative title Paralipomena of Jeremiah, meaning things omitted from Jeremiah. The gnostic Book of Baruch is another work again, rather than an alternative name for any of these numbered writings.
When, where and by whom were they written?
Scholars generally assign the biblical work to the Second Temple period, with its constituent sections potentially originating at different times. Its presentation as a work from the Jewish exiles in Babylon is not generally accepted as evidence that Jeremiah's historical scribe wrote it. The Letter of Jeremiah is likewise usually assigned to the Hellenistic period rather than to Jeremiah's lifetime.
2 Baruch is usually dated to the late first or early second century CE. Its unknown author responds to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE through a story set during the Babylonian destruction. 3 Baruch is usually dated to the second century CE; the underlying narrative of 4 Baruch commonly receives a late first- or early second-century date. The gnostic work is associated with second-century speculation and attributed to Justin, a teacher distinct from Justin Martyr.
What does each work contain?
The biblical work moves through communal confession and prayer for mercy, a wisdom poem identifying wisdom with Israel's law, and consolation for Jerusalem, depicted as a grieving mother awaiting restoration. The Letter of Jeremiah warns exiles against idol worship. 2 Baruch instead combines dialogues with God, symbolic visions, and teachings about judgment, resurrection and the coming age, ending with a letter addressed to the nine and a half tribes.
3 Baruch describes an angel-guided journey through five heavens, with sights such as the builders of the Tower of Babel and a phoenix associated with the sun. 4 Baruch tells of Abimelech sleeping for sixty-six years during the exile and an eagle carrying a letter between Baruch and Jeremiah. The gnostic work combines biblical figures and Greek mythological material in an account of cosmic origins and salvation.
Why are they not in most Bibles?
The answer depends on the work and the biblical tradition. The Book of Baruch is deuterocanonical in the Catholic Church and belongs to Eastern Orthodox Old Testaments. It is not part of the Jewish biblical canon. Protestant Bibles that print it generally place it in the Apocrypha rather than within the Old Testament canon. Its absence therefore does not have the same meaning across these traditions.
The Letter of Jeremiah also has different arrangements within biblical traditions: Catholic Bibles make it the sixth chapter of Baruch, while the Greek biblical tradition transmits it separately. Neither 2 Baruch nor 3 Baruch belongs to the Jewish, Catholic or standard Eastern Orthodox biblical canon. The biblical standing of one writing named Baruch does not establish the standing of another, and the shared attribution is not evidence of a shared canonical history.
How do the texts survive?
The biblical work survives in Greek within the Septuagint manuscript tradition. A Greek fragment of the Letter of Jeremiah was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. The complete text of 2 Baruch survives in a Syriac manuscript preserved in Milan, while its concluding letter also circulated independently in Syriac manuscripts. That separate circulation is part of the work's surviving textual history.
3 Baruch survives in Greek and Slavonic forms whose contents differ. 4 Baruch survives in Greek and several ancient Christian translation traditions, among them Ethiopic; its surviving forms contain explicitly Christian material. The gnostic work has a different kind of survival: it is known through Hippolytus's account of Justin's teaching in Refutation of All Heresies, not through an independent manuscript of the work itself.
Where to go next
The guide to the Apocrypha provides related context for the biblical work's placement in Protestant Bibles. The guide to the pseudepigrapha is a related destination for the other writings attributed to Baruch.
The edition on this site is titled The Book of Baruch; the library also holds 2 Baruch, The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, 4 Baruch and The Book of Baruch of the Gnostics.
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Every book’s page plays the opening of its audiobook. Open The Book of Baruch below and press play.
The Book of BaruchAttributed to BaruchHear a sample
2 BaruchAttributed to BaruchHear a sample
The Greek Apocalypse of BaruchAttributed to Baruch ben NeriahHear a sample
4 BaruchAttributed to Baruch ben NeriahHear a sample
The Complete 88-Book Ethiopian BibleHear a sample
Questions about the Books of Baruch
Which book of Baruch is in the Bible?
The Book of Baruch, sometimes called 1 Baruch, belongs to Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Old Testaments. It is not in the Jewish biblical canon. Protestant Bibles that print it generally place it in the Apocrypha. This biblical work is distinct from the writings numbered 2 Baruch and 3 Baruch.
Is the Book of Baruch in the Catholic Bible?
Yes, The Book of Baruch is deuterocanonical in the Catholic Church. Catholic Bibles also give the Letter of Jeremiah as its sixth chapter. The Greek biblical tradition transmits that letter separately, so references to Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah can reflect different arrangements rather than different names for the same whole work.
What is 2 Baruch?
2 Baruch is the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, usually dated to the late first or early second century CE. It responds to Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE through an earlier Babylonian setting. Its contents combine dialogues, visions and teachings about judgment and resurrection, followed by a letter to the nine and a half tribes.
What is the difference between 1, 2, 3 and 4 Baruch?
They are separate works, not successive volumes. 1 Baruch combines prayer, wisdom poetry and consolation; 2 Baruch presents dialogues and symbolic visions; 3 Baruch describes a journey through five heavens; and 4 Baruch recounts events surrounding Jerusalem's fall and the exile. Their numbers distinguish texts with different contents and histories.
Who was Baruch in the Bible?
Baruch son of Neriah is identified in Jeremiah as the prophet's scribe. Later writings bear his name, but this attribution does not establish that he composed them. Scholars generally regard the biblical Book of Baruch itself as a later composition rather than the work of Jeremiah's historical scribe.
