The letter of Jeremiah

The Letter of Jeremiah, also known as the Epistle of Jeremiah, is a deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament; this letter is attributed to Jeremiah[1] and addressed to the Jews who were about to be carried away as captives to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. It is included in Catholic Church bibles as the final chapter of the Book of Baruch (Baruch 6). It is also included in Orthodox bibles as a separate book, as well as in the Apocrypha of the King James Version.

Author

According to the text of the letter, the author is the biblical prophet Jeremiah. The biblical Book of Jeremiah itself contains the words of a letter sent by Jeremiah "from Jerusalem" to the "captives" in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1–23). The Letter of Jeremiah portrays itself as a similar piece of correspondence.

Letter of Jeremiah 1 (KJV) Jeremiah 29:1 (KJV)
A copy of an epistle, which Jeremy sent unto them which were to be led captives into Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to certify them, as it was commanded by God. Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives ... and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

As E. H. Gifford puts it, "The fact that Jeremiah had written one such letter to the captives seems to have suggested the idea of dignifying by his name another letter not written in reality till many ages after his death."[2] Against the traditional view, most contemporary scholars agree that the author was not Jeremiah: one exception is the Roman Catholic commentator F. H. Reusch.[3] The chief arguments put forward are literary quality, as well as the religious depth and sensitivity.[4] J. T. Marshall adds that the use of "seven generations" (v. 3) rather than "seventy years" (Jer 29:10) for the duration of the exile "points away from Jeremiah towards one who deplored the long exile".[5] The author may have been a Hellenistic Jew who lived in Alexandria,[1][6] but it is difficult to say with certainty. The earliest manuscripts containing the Epistle of Jeremiah are all in Greek. The earliest Greek fragment (1st century BC) was discovered in Qumran.[7] Gifford reports that in his time "the great majority of competent and impartial critics" considered Greek to be the original language.[8] As one of these critics O. F. Fritzsche put it, "If any one of the Apocryphal books was composed in Greek, this certainly was."[9] The strongest dissenter from this majority view was C. J. Ball, who marshalled the most compelling argument for a Hebrew original.[10] However, Yale Semitic scholar C. C. Torrey was not persuaded: "If the examination by a scholar of Ball's thoroughness and wide learning can produce nothing better than this, it can be said with little hesitation that the language was probably not Hebrew."[11] Torrey's own conclusion was that the work was originally composed in Aramaic.[12] In recent years the tide of opinion has shifted and now the consensus is that the "letter" was originally composed in Hebrew (or Aramaic).[13]

Date

The date of this work is uncertain. Most scholars agree that it is dependent on certain biblical passages, notably Isa 44:9–20, 46:5–7, and thus can be no earlier than 540 BC.[14] Since a fragment (7Q2) was identified among the scrolls in Qumran Cave 7, it can be no later than 100 BC. Further support for this terminus ad quem may be found in a possible reference to the letter in 2 Maccabees 2:1–3.[15][16]

Letter of Jeremiah vv. 4–6 (NEB) 2 Maccabees 2:1–3
(c. 150–120 BC)
Now in Babylon you will see carried on men's shoulder's gods made of silver, gold, and wood, which fill the heathen with awe. Be careful, then, never to imitate these Gentiles; do not be overawed by their gods when you see them in the midst of a procession of worshippers. But say in your hearts, "To thee alone, Lord, is worship due." The records show that it was the prophet Jeremiah who ordered the exiles ... not to neglect the ordinances of the Lord, or be led astray by the sight of images of gold and silver with all their finery.

As mentioned above, the use of "seven generations" rather than "seventy years" points to a later period. Ball calculates the date to be c. 317–307 BC.[17] Tededche notes: "It is well known that many Jews were attracted to alien cults throughout the Greek period, 300 BC onward, so that the warning in the letter might have been uttered any time during this period."[18]

Canonicity

The epistle is one of four deuterocanonical books found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (see Tanakh at Qumran). (The other three are Psalm 151, Sirach, and Tobit.) The portion of the epistle discovered at Qumran was written in Greek. This does not preclude the possibility of the text being based on a prior Hebrew or Aramaic text. However, the only text available to us has dozens of linguistic features available in Greek, but not in Hebrew; this shows that the Greek text is more than a minimalist translation.[19]

The earliest evidence of the question of its canonicity arising in Christian tradition is in the work of Origen of Alexandria, as reported by Eusebius in his Church History. Origen listed Lamentations and the Letter of Jeremiah as one unit with the Book of Jeremiah proper, among "the canonical books as the Hebrews have handed them down,"[20] though scholars agree that this was surely a slip.[21]

Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion writes that Jews had in their books the deuterocanonical Epistle of Jeremiah and Baruch, both combined with Jeremiah and Lamentations in only one book.[22]

Athanasius of Alexandria mentions the same: he includes the deuterocanonical Epistle of Jeremiah and Baruch as a part of the Old Testament Canon, both combined with Jeremiah and Lamentations in only one book.[23]

Cyril of Jerusalem states in his list of canonical books "of Jeremiah one, including Baruch and Lamentations and the Epistle"[24]

Tertullian quotes the letter authoritatively in the eighth chapter of Scorpiace.[25]

The Synod of Laodicea (4th century) wrote that Jeremiah, and Baruch, the Lamentations, and the Epistle are canonical in only one book.[26]

Jerome provided the majority of the translation work for the vulgar (popular) Latin translation of the Bible, called the Vulgate Bible. Since no Hebrew text was available, Jerome refused to consider the Epistle of Jeremiah, as the other books he called apocryphal, canonical.[27]

Despite Jerome's reservations, the epistle was included as chapter 6 of the Book of Baruch in the Old Testament of the Vulgate. The King James Version follows the same practice, while placing Baruch in the Apocrypha section as does Luther's Bible. In the Ethiopian Orthodox canon, it forms part of the "Rest of Jeremiah", along with 4 Baruch (also known as the Paraleipomena of Jeremiah).

Contents

The letter is actually a harangue against idols and idolatry.[28] Bruce M. Metzger suggests "one might perhaps characterize it as an impassioned sermon which is based on a verse from the canonical Book of Jeremiah."[29] That verse is Jer 10:11, the only verse in the entire book written in Aramaic.[30]

Tell them this: "These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens."

— Jeremiah 10:11 (NIV)

The work was written with a serious practical purpose:[1] to instruct the Jews not to worship the gods of the Babylonians, but to worship only the Lord. As Gifford puts it, "the writer is evidently making an earnest appeal to persons actually living in the midst of heathenism, and needing to be warned and encouraged against temptations to apostasy."[31] The author warned the Hebrew exiles that they were to remain in captivity for seven generations, and that during that time they would see the worship paid to idols.[1] Readers were exhorted not to participate, because the idols were created by men, without the powers of speech, hearing, or self-preservation.[1] Then follows a satirical denunciation of the idols. As Gifford explains, in this folly of idolatry "there is no clear logical arrangement of the thought, but the divisions are marked by the recurrence of a refrain, which is apparently intended to give a sort of rhythmical air to the whole composition."[32] The conclusion reiterates the warning to avoid idolatry.

Notes

1. Charles, Robert Henry (1911). "Jeremy, Epistle of" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 325.
2. Gifford 1888, 287
3. Reusch, F. H., Erklärung des Buchs Baruch (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1853). For a critique of Reusch's position as well as an English translation of portions of his work, see Gifford 1888, 288.
4. Moore 1992, 704; cf. Marshall 1909, 578.
5. Marshall 1909, 579; cf. Gifford 1888, 302; Ball 1913, 596.
6. Westcott 1893, 361; Gifford 1888, 290.
7. Baillet 1962, 143.
8. Gifford 1888, 288; cf. Torrey 1945, 65.
9. Fritzsche 1851, 206 as translated by Gifford 1888, 288.
10. Ball 1913, 597–98, and throughout the commentary; cf. Gifford 1888, 289.
11. Torrey 1945, 65; cf. Oesterley 1914, 508.
12. Torrey 1945, 66–67. Pfeiffer 1949, 430, supports Torrey's Aramaic proposal, though noting that "its Hellenistic Greek style is fairly good."
13. Metzger 1957, 96; Moore 1977, 327–27; Nickelsburg 1984, 148; Schürer 1987, 744 (opinion of revisers, Schürer himself thought it was "certainly of Greek origin" [Schürer 1896, 195]); Moore 1992, 704; Kaiser 2004, 62.
14. Moore 1992, 705; Schürer 1987, 744; Pfeiffer 1949, 429.
15. intertextual.bible/text/letter-of-jeremiah-1.4-2-maccabees-2.2
16. Moore 1992, 705; Nickelsburg, 1984, 148; Schürer 1987, 744. Pfeiffer 1949, 429, rejects the reference and cites other rejectors.
17. Ball 1913, 596; cf. Moore 1977, 334–35.
18. Tededche 1962, 823.
19. Benjamin G Wright, 'To the Reader of the Epistle of Ieremeias', in New English Translation of the Septuagint.
20. Eusebius,Church History, vi.25.2"
21. Marshall 1909, 579; Schürer 1987, 744. H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L. Oulton, Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History, 2 vols. (London: SPCK, 1927), 2:216, write: "the text of the list which lay before Eusebius was corrupt or was carelessly copied."
22. Williams, translated by Frank (1987). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis 8:6:1-3 (2. impression. ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 9004079262. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
23. of Alexandria, Athanasius. Letter 39. newadvent. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
24. of Jerusalem, Cyril. Catechetical Lecture 4 Chapter 35. newadvent. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
25. intertextual.bible/text/letter-of-jeremiah-1.3-tertullian-scorpiace-8
26. of Laodicea, Synod. Synod of Laodicea Canon 60. newadvent. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
27. Jerome, Comm. on Jeremiah, praef. Migne PL 24:706.
28. Moore 1992, 703; cf. Dancy 1972, 199.
29. Metzger 1957, 96. Also endorsing its sermonic character are Ball 1913, 596; Tededche 1962, 822; Vriezen 2005, 543.
30. Torrey 1945, 64; Metzger 1957, 96; Moore 1992, 704,
31. Gifford 1888, 290. Oesterley 1914, 507, says much the same thing: "That the writer is seeking to check a real danger ... seems certain from the obvious earnestness with which he writes."
32. Gifford 1888, 287. The refrain occurs first at v. 16 and then is repeated at vv. 23, 29, 65, and 69.

-Wiki-

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1. The Letter of Jeremiah, Apocrypha. Alexander Scourby SYC. Audio & Text - 2025.

https://youtu.be/O-r7EIe4Z70?si=mYKKc6WbRJSSlmez

2. The lost Letter of Jeremiah. Christopher Glyn. Audio & Text - 2025.

https://youtu.be/DeYycBxoW3M?si=spJee3QyZ6UkVp-B

.....

EpJer.6

[1] A copy of a letter which Jeremiah sent to those who were to be taken to Babylon as captives by the king of the Babylonians, to give them the message which God had commanded him.
[2] Because of the sins which you have committed before God, you will be taken to Babylon as captives by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians.
[3] Therefore when you have come to Babylon you will remain there for many years, for a long time, up to seven generations; after that I will bring you away from there in peace.
[4] Now in Babylon you will see gods made of silver and gold and wood, which are carried on men's shoulders and inspire fear in the heathen.
[5] So take care not to become at all like the foreigners or to let fear for these gods possess you, when you see the multitude before and behind them worshiping them.
[6] But say in your heart, "It is thou, O Lord, whom we must worship."
[7] For my angel is with you, and he is watching your lives.
[8] Their tongues are smoothed by the craftsman, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver; but they are false and cannot speak.
[9] People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they would for a girl who loves ornaments;
[10] and sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it upon themselves,
[11] and even give some of it to the harlots in the brothel. They deck their gods out with garments like men -- these gods of silver and gold and wood,
[12] which cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion. When they have been dressed in purple robes,
[13] their faces are wiped because of the dust from the temple, which is thick upon them.
[14] Like a local ruler the god holds a scepter, though unable to destroy any one who offends it.
[15] It has a dagger in its right hand, and has an axe; but it cannot save itself from war and robbers.
[16] Therefore they evidently are not gods; so do not fear them.
[17] For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen, when they have been set up in the temples. Their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter.
[18] And just as the gates are shut on every side upon a man who has offended a king, as though he were sentenced to death, so the priests make their temples secure with doors and locks and bars, in order that they may not be plundered by robbers.
[19] They light lamps, even more than they light for themselves, though their gods can see none of them.
[20] They are just like a beam of the temple, but men say their hearts have melted, when worms from the earth devour them and their robes. They do not notice
[21] when their faces have been blackened by the smoke of the temple.
[22] Bats, swallows, and birds light on their bodies and heads; and so do cats.
[23] From this you will know that they are not gods; so do not fear them.
[24] As for the gold which they wear for beauty -- they will not shine unless some one wipes off the rust; for even when they were being cast, they had no feeling.
[25] They are bought at any cost, but there is no breath in them.
[26] Having no feet, they are carried on men's shoulders, revealing to mankind their worthlessness.
[27] And those who serve them are ashamed because through them these gods are made to stand, lest they fall to the ground. If any one sets one of them upright, it cannot move itself; and if it is tipped over, it cannot straighten itself; but gifts are placed before them just as before the dead.
[28] The priests sell the sacrifices that are offered to these gods and use the money; and likewise their wives preserve some with salt, but give none to the poor or helpless.
[29] Sacrifices to them may be touched by women in menstruation or at childbirth. Since you know by these things that they are not gods, do not fear them.
[30] For why should they be called gods? Women serve meals for gods of silver and gold and wood;
[31] and in their temples the priests sit with their clothes rent, their heads and beards shaved, and their heads uncovered.
[32] They howl and shout before their gods as some do at a funeral feast for a man who has died.
[33] The priests take some of the clothing of their gods to clothe their wives and children.
[34] Whether one does evil to them or good, they will not be able to repay it. They cannot set up a king or depose one.
[35] Likewise they are not able to give either wealth or money; if one makes a vow to them and does not keep it, they will not require it.
[36] They cannot save a man from death or rescue the weak from the strong.
[37] They cannot restore sight to a blind man; they cannot rescue a man who is in distress.
[38] They cannot take pity on a widow or do good to an orphan.
[39] These things that are made of wood and overlaid with gold and silver are like stones from the mountain, and those who serve them will be put to shame.
[40] Why then must any one think that they are gods, or call them gods? Besides, even the Chaldeans themselves dishonor them;
[41] for when they see a dumb man, who cannot speak, they bring him and pray Bel that the man may speak, as though Bel were able to understand.
[42] Yet they themselves cannot perceive this and abandon them, for they have no sense.
[43] And the women, with cords about them, sit along the passageways, burning bran for incense; and when one of them is led off by one of the passers-by and is lain with, she derides the woman next to her, because she was not as attractive as herself and her cord was not broken.
[44] Whatever is done for them is false. Why then must any one think that they are gods, or call them gods?
[45] They are made by carpenters and goldsmiths; they can be nothing but what the craftsmen wish them to be.
[46] The men that make them will certainly not live very long themselves; how then can the things that are made by them be gods?
[47] They have left only lies and reproach for those who come after.
[48] For when war or calamity comes upon them, the priests consult together as to where they can hide themselves and their gods.
[49] How then can one fail to see that these are not gods, for they cannot save themselves from war or calamity?
[50] Since they are made of wood and overlaid with gold and silver, it will afterward be known that they are false.
[51] It will be manifest to all the nations and kings that they are not gods but the work of men's hands, and that there is no work of God in them.
[52] Who then can fail to know that they are not gods?
[53] For they cannot set up a king over a country or give rain to men.
[54] They cannot judge their own cause or deliver one who is wronged, for they have no power; they are like crows between heaven and earth.
[55] When fire breaks out in a temple of wooden gods overlaid with gold or silver, their priests will flee and escape, but the gods will be burnt in two like beams.
[56] Besides, they can offer no resistance to a king or any enemies. Why then must any one admit or think that they are gods?
[57] Gods made of wood and overlaid with silver and gold are not able to save themselves from thieves and robbers.
[58] Strong men will strip them of their gold and silver and of the robes they wear, and go off with this booty, and they will not be able to help themselves.
[59] So it is better to be a king who shows his courage, or a household utensil that serves its owner's need, than to be these false gods; better even the door of a house that protects its contents, than these false gods; better also a wooden pillar in a palace, than these false gods.
[60] For sun and moon and stars, shining and sent forth for service, are obedient.
[61] So also the lightning, when it flashes, is widely seen; and the wind likewise blows in every land.
[62] When God commands the clouds to go over the whole world, they carry out his command.
[63] And the fire sent from above to consume mountains and woods does what it is ordered. But these idols are not to be compared with them in appearance or power.
[64] Therefore one must not think that they are gods nor call them gods, for they are not able either to decide a case or to do good to men.
[65] Since you know then that they are not gods, do not fear them.
[66] For they can neither curse nor bless kings;
[67] they cannot show signs in the heavens and among the nations, or shine like the sun or give light like the moon.
[68] The wild beasts are better than they are, for they can flee to cover and help themselves.
[69] So we have no evidence whatever that they are gods; therefore do not fear them.
[70] Like a scarecrow in a cucumber bed, that guards nothing, so are their gods of wood, overlaid with gold and silver.
[71] In the same way, their gods of wood, overlaid with gold and silver, and like a thorn bush in a garden, on which every bird sits; or like a dead body cast out in the darkness.
[72] By the purple and linen that rot upon them you will know that they are not gods; and they will finally themselves be consumed, and be a reproach in the land.
[73] Better therefore is a just man who has no idols, for he will be far from reproach.

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