d to assume plurality of authorship.

_Contents_.--The book consists of the following parts:--

i. 1-14. The historical preface with a description of the origin and
purpose of the book.

i. 15-ii. 5. A confession of sin used by the Palestinian Remnant. This
confession was according to i. 14 sent from Babylon (i. 4, 7) to Jerusalem
to be read "on the day of the feast and on the days of the solemn
assembly." The confession is restricted to the use of the remnant at home
(see next paragraph). In this confession there is a national acknowledgment
of sin and a recognition of the Exile as a righteous judgment.

ii. 6-iii. 8. A confession of the captives in Babylon and a prayer for
restoration. This confession opens as the former (in i. 15) with the words
found also in Daniel ix. 7, "To the Lord our God belongeth righteousness,
&c." The confession is of the Exiles and not of the remnant in Palestine,
as Marshall has pointed out. Thus it is the Exiles clearly who are speaking
in ii. 13, "We are but a few left among the heathen where thou hast
scattered _us_"; ii. 14, "Give us favour in the sight of them which have
led us away captive"; iii. 7, "We will praise thee in our captivity"; iii.
8, "We are yet this day in our captivity where thou hast scattered us." On
the other hand the speakers in the confession in i. 15-ii. 5 are clearly
the remnant in Jerusalem. i. 15, "To the Lord our God belongeth
righteousness, but unto us confusion of face ... to the men of Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem." The Exiles are mentioned by way of contrast
to the speakers; ii. 4, 5, "He hath given _them_ to be in subjection to all
the kingdoms that are round about _us_ to be a reproach among all the
people round about where the Lord hath scattered _them_. Thus were they
cast down ... because _we_ sinned against the Lord our God."[1]

iii. 9-iv. 4. The glorification of wisdom, that is, of the Law. Israel is
bidden to walk in the light of it; it is the glory of Israel and is not to
be given to another.

iv. 5-v. 9. Consolation of Israel with the promise of deliverance and
lasting happiness and blessing to Jerusalem.

_Integrity_.--From the foregoing description it seems clear that the book
is derived from a plurality of authors. Most scholars, such as Fritzsche,
Hitzig, Kneucker, Hilgenfeld, Reuss, agree in assuming that i.-iii. 8 and
iii. 9-v. 9 are from distinct writers. But some critics have gone farther.
Thus Rothstein (Kautzsch, _Apok