in text
is that of the "Old Latin," which Jerome left, as he did that of the
book of Wisdom, without revision.

VII. BARUCH AND THE EPISTLE OF JEREMIAH.

17. This is the only apocryphal book which assumes the character of
prophecy. It is formed after the model of Jeremiah, and ascribed to
Baruch his friend. But its spuriousness is generally admitted. Besides
historical inaccuracies, such as are not conceivable in the case of
Baruch, the fact that its author employed the Septuagint translation of
Jeremiah and Daniel mark it as of a later date. Keil assigns it to about
the middle of the second century B.C. The book professes to be a letter
written by Baruch in the name of the captive Jews in Babylon to their
brethren at Jerusalem, and consists of two well-marked divisions, the
first of which, extending to chap. 3:8, is, in the opinion of some, a
translation from an original Hebrew document. This part contains, after
an introductory notice, a confession of sin with prayer for deliverance.
The second part begins with an address to the covenant people, in which
they are rebuked for neglecting the teachings of divine wisdom, and
encouraged with the hope of returning prosperity when they shall obey
her voice. Chaps. 3:9-4:8. Zion is then introduced lamenting over the
desolations which God has brought upon her and her children (chap.
4:9-4:29), and afterwards comforting them with the hope of certain
deliverance and enlargement (chaps. 4:30-5:9). It is generally agreed
that the second part was originally written in Greek, and some think
that the same is true of the first part also.

18. There is another Epistle of Baruch preserved to us in the Syriac,
which is inserted in the London and Paris Polyglotts. It is addressed to
the nine and a half tribes, and "made up of commonplaces of warning,
encouragement, and exhortation." Smith's Bib. Dict., Art. Baruch.

19. There is a spurious _Epistle of Jeremiah_ which appears in the
Vulgate and our English version as the sixth chapter of Baruch. It is
entitled: "Copy of an epistle which Jeremiah sent to those who were to
be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians to make
announcement to them, as it was commanded him by God." It purports to be
a warning to these captives against the idolatrous practices which they
shall witness in Babylon, and is made up of a long discourse on the
impotence of the idols which the heathen worship, written in a
rhetorical style, in imit