A Word of Care for Baruch
45 1 This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a scroll as Jeremiah dictated them, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 This is what our Father of Israel says to you, Baruch: 3 You said, 'Woe to me! For our Father has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out from groaning, and I find no rest.'
4 This is what you are to say to him: This is what our Father says: What I have built I am tearing down, and what I have planted I am uprooting—throughout the whole land. 5 And you—do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For look, I am bringing disaster on all flesh, declares our Father, but I will give you your life as plunder in every place where you go. a a v5 "Your life as plunder" was a battlefield saying: in the coming ruin Baruch would escape with nothing but his life—and that itself was the gift our Father promised to keep.
