Fourth Baruch

After these things, Abimelech went out of the city and prayed to the Lord.

And behold, an angel of the Lord came, and taking him by the right hand, brought him back to the place where Baruch was sitting; and he found him in a tomb.

And when they saw each other, both wept and kissed each other.

And Baruch, lifting his eyes, saw the figs covered in Abimelech’s basket.

And lifting his eyes to heaven, he prayed, saying,

“You are the God who gives recompense to those who love you. Prepare yourself, my heart, and rejoice and exult in your dwelling, saying to your fleshly house, ‘Your sorrow has been turned into joy; for the Capable One is coming, and he will take you up into your dwelling, for no sin has occurred to you.’

Refresh yourself in your dwelling in your virginal faith and believe that you will live.”

“Look at this basket of figs; for behold, they have been sixty-six years old, and they have not withered, nor have they become putrid, but they are dripping milk.”

“Thus will your flesh become for you, if you do what was commanded to you by the angel of righteousness.”

“He who preserved the basket of figs, he will again preserve you by his power.”

Having said these things, Baruch says to Abimelech, “Arise, and let us pray, that the Lord may make known to us how we can send the message to Jeremiah in Babylon concerning the protection that happened to you on the way.”

And Baruch prayed, saying, “Our strength, O Lord God, the chosen light that came forth from your mouth.”

“We implore and beseech your goodness, O great name, which no one can know, hear the voice of your servants, and become knowledge in our heart.”

What shall we do, and how shall we send this message to Jeremiah in Babylon?

While Baruch was still praying, behold, an angel of the Lord came and said all these words to Baruch: “O counselor of light, do not worry about how you will send to Jeremiah. For tomorrow, at the hour of light, an eagle will come to you, and you will visit Jeremiah.”

Therefore, write in the letter: “Speak to the sons of Israel: Let the one who has become a stranger among you be set apart, and they shall make fifteen days. And after these things, I will bring you into your city,” says the Lord.

“The one who is not set apart from Babylon will by no means enter the city. And I will forbid them from being accepted again by the Babylonians,” says the Lord.

And after saying these things, the angel departed from Baruch.

Then Baruch sent to the market of the Gentiles and brought paper and ink, and he wrote a letter containing the following: “Baruch, the servant of God, writes to Jeremiah in the captivity of Babylon:

Rejoice and be glad, because God has not abandoned us to depart from this body, grieving because of the city that has been desolated and disgraced.

Therefore, the Lord had compassion on our tears and remembered the covenant that he made with our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And he sent his angel to me and said to me these words, which I have sent to you.

So these are the words that the Lord, the God of Israel, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the great furnace, spoke: ‘Because you did not keep my ordinances, but your heart was exalted, and you stiffened your neck before me, in wrath and anger I delivered you to the furnace in Babylon.’

“‘Therefore, if you listen to my voice,’ says the Lord, ‘from the mouth of Jeremiah my servant, the one who listens—I will bring him up from Babylon. But the one who does not listen will become a stranger to Jerusalem and to Babylon.’

“You shall test them by the water of the Jordan. The one who does not listen will become manifest. This is the sign of the great seal.”