2 Baruch

A post-70 Jewish apocalypse associated with Baruch, preserved mainly in Syriac.

2 Baruch is a Jewish apocalypse associated with Baruch and written after the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, at medium confidence. It is preserved mainly in Syriac. It is related literature for the Catholic and Protestant canons, not a standard book of either closed list, and it is not the Greek book of Baruch that Catholic Bibles print with Jeremiah. The shared name Baruch is the point of the separate entry. Post-70 composition also places it after the events it interprets, which is a date claim, not a canonical one.

Related literature, not a standard Catholic or Protestant canon book.

Date

After 70 CE (medium confidence)

Confidence

medium

Languages

Hebrew, Syriac

Traditional authorship

Baruch

Authorship note

Presented in the name of Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe; not received as Scripture

• B. 21 Inf. · Codex Ambrosianus

  6th–7th centuries CE (medium confidence) · Syriac · Complete Syriac apocalypse in B. 21 Inf.

  Codex Ambrosianus, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana MS B. 21 Inf., is a Syriac biblical manuscript commonly placed in the sixth or seventh century at medium confidence. It preserves the complete Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, called 2 Baruch in this dataset, and also 4 Ezra, the apocalypse behind 2 Esdras. Neither book is in Codex Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, or Alexandrinus. A Syriac church copied them in a biblical collection. That is preservation in one Eastern Christian tradition. It is not evidence that Greek or Latin canon lists adopted these apocalypses, and 2 Baruch is not the Letter of Jeremiah or Greek Baruch.

• mentions

  Jewish apocalyptic tradition

  2 Baruch is not a book of the Tanakh. Josephus, near the end of the first century, describes twenty-two Jewish books his people trust and sets later writings in a lower rank. The later rabbinic Bible, counted as twenty-four books, likewise leaves 2 Baruch outside Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. 2 Baruch answers the fall of the Temple in a Jewish apocalyptic voice. It is not in the Tanakh and it is not Greek Baruch. No Qumran copy of this Syriac apocalypse is in the dataset. Jewish copying or quotation, where it exists, is reception. It is not the same fact as a place in the Hebrew canon, and it is not a Christian council’s decision.

• preserves

  Syriac biblical tradition

  A late antique Syriac biblical manuscript preserves the complete apocalypse. That is Eastern Christian preservation. Greek and Latin canon lists do not adopt 2 Baruch as Scripture. It should not be confused with Baruch or the Letter of Jeremiah in the Septuagint.

• ProtestantRelated literature

  Not among the Protestant 66.

• CatholicRelated literature

  Not a Catholic deuterocanonical book.

• OrthodoxRelated literature

  Not in the typical Eastern closed canon.

• EthiopianRelated literature

  Distinct from Ethiopian Baruch/Jeremiah traditions used in this dataset.

• TanakhNot applicable

  Not part of the Tanakh.

• LXXRelated literature

  Not a standard Septuagint book.

• Early ChristianRelated literature

  Post-70 Jewish apocalypse preserved mainly in Syriac.

• Second TempleRelated literature

  Jewish apocalypse after the Temple’s destruction.

No council, confession, or canon list in this dataset names 2 Baruch. Tradition status is recorded in the section above.

• Shared tradition · Syriac apocalypse ↔ 4 Ezra

  High confidence — strong primary or manuscript support.

  2 Baruch and 2 Esdras (4 Ezra) are both Jewish apocalypses answering the destruction of the Temple. They are not the same book, and neither is Greek Baruch or Greek 1 Esdras.

No dated canon event in this dataset is tied to 2 Baruch.

• Westminster Confession I.2–3 names the 66-book Protestant canon and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.
• Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), lists the Catholic canonical books including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate.
• Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367), lists 22 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books and names some other writings as useful but not canonical.
• The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church publishes an 81-book list that includes 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Meqabyan books.
• Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, speaks of 22 Jewish books and distinguishes later writings as not equally trusted.
• Brenton’s public-domain Septuagint translation includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, the Additions, and Maccabees as part of the Greek Old Testament corpus.
• R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon, 1912), introduction on Ethiopic preservation and composite dating.
• Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS B. 21 Inf., a sixth- or seventh-century Syriac biblical codex, preserves 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra. Neither book is in the great Greek uncials.