My LORD’s Bible3 Baruch (Greek Apocalypse of Baruch) 1
The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, written by an unknown author, probably in the 1st-3rd century AD (most likely about AD 100-175, in Egypt or Palestine), as a Jewish work later worked over by a Christian hand; it survives complete in Greek and in a shorter Slavonic form. The prophet Baruch, weeping over the fall of Jerusalem, is taken by an angel through five heavens: the plains of the builders of the Tower of Babel, the serpent and Hades, the chariot of the sun with the phoenix that screens the world from its rays, the pool of the righteous souls, and at the last the archangel Michael weighing the merits of human beings in a great vessel. Square brackets mark passages Hughes judged to be Christian additions (chapters 4, 13 and 15). This is H. M. Hughes's English as printed in R. H. Charles's Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1913); his Introduction and notes are not reproduced. Charles prints verse numbers in the margin beside the line, not at the exact start of a verse, so each chapter is given here as one text; the unnumbered Prologue opens chapter 1. Not part of any canon; not the same book as 2 Baruch (Syriac) or 4 Baruch (Paraleipomena of Jeremiah).
1Prologue. A narrative and revelation of Baruch, concerning those ineffable things which he saw by command of God. Bless Thou, O Lord. A revelation of Baruch, who stood upon the river Gel weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God, at the farm of Agrippa. And he was sitting thus at the beautiful gates, where the Holy of holies lay. Chapter 1. Verily I Baruch was weeping in my mind and sorrowing on account of the people, and that Nebuchadnezzar the king was permitted by God to destroy His city, saying: Lord, why didst Thou set on fire Thy vineyard, and lay it waste? Why didst Thou do this? And why, Lord, didst Thou not requite us with another chastisement, but didst deliver us to nations such as these, so that they reproach us and say, Where is their God? And behold as I was weeping and saying such things, I saw an angel of the Lord coming and saying to me: Understand, O man, greatly beloved, and trouble not thyself so greatly concerning the salvation of Jerusalem, for thus saith the Lord God, the Almighty. For He sent me before thee, to make known and to show to thee all (the things) of God. For thy prayer was heard before Him, and entered into the ears of the Lord God. And when he had said these things to me, I was silent. And the angel said to me: Cease to provoke God, and I will show thee other mysteries, greater than these. And I Baruch said, As the Lord God liveth, if thou wilt show me, and I hear a word of thine, I will not continue to speak any longer. God shall add to my judgement in the day of judgement, if I speak hereafter. And the angel of the powers said to me, Come, and I will show thee the mysteries of God.