1A palavra que fallou Jeremias, o propheta, a Baruch, filho de Nerias, escrevendo elle aquellas palavras n'um livro da bocca de Jeremias, no anno quarto de Joaquim, filho de Josias, rei de Judah, dizendo:
2Assim diz o Senhor, Deus d'Israel, ácerca de ti, ó Baruch:
3Disseste: Ai de mim agora! porque me accrescentou o Senhor tristeza sobre minha dôr: já estou cançado do meu gemido, e não acho descanço.
4Pelo que assim lhe dirás: Assim diz o Senhor: Eis que o que edifiquei eu derribo, e o que plantei eu arranco, e isso em toda esta terra.
5E tu te buscarias grandezas? não as busques; porque eis que trago mal sobre toda a carne, diz o Senhor; porém te darei a ti a tua alma por despojo, em todos os logares para onde fores.
📖 Chapter study
Summary
A short, personal chapter dedicated to Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, who was exhausted and distressed over his own suffering. God promises to preserve his life amid the general collapse.
Explanation
This brief chapter functions almost like an emotional parenthesis within the book, giving special attention to Jeremiah's closest collaborator, who carried the emotional weight of writing down and witnessing all these harsh prophecies for decades. God's gentle rebuke ('do you seek great things for yourself? do not seek them') reminds us that in times of widespread national crisis, seeking personal security or prominence is not a wise priority. The final promise that Baruch would have 'his life as a prize' (that is, would survive) wherever he went is a direct, personal comfort within a book dominated by collective judgments.
Fun facts
- This chapter, though short, is dated to the same period as chapter 36 (the fourth year of Jehoiakim), making it chronologically one of the earliest events in the book, even though it is placed near the end of the final text.
- The expression 'his life as a prize' (having one's life as the only thing saved, but still saved) appears in almost identical form in Jeremiah 21:9, 38:2, and 39:18, forming a recurring theme of survival amid catastrophe.