1 These are the words of the book which Baruk the son of Neriyah, the son of Mahseyah, the son of Tsidkiyah (Zedekiah), the son of Hasadyah, the son of Hilkiyah, wrote in Bavel (Babylon), 2 in the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Kasdim (Chaldeans) took Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and burnt it with fire. 3 Baruk read the words of this book in the hearing of Yekonias the son of Yehoyakim king of Yehudah (Judah), and in the hearing of all the people who came to hear the book, 4 and in the hearing of the mighty men, and of the kings’ sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and in the hearing of all the people, from the least to the greatest, even of all those who lived at Bavel by the river Sud. 5 Then they wept, fasted,[fn] and prayed before the master. 6 They also made a collection of money according to every man’s ability; 7 and they sent it to Yerushalem to Yehoyakim the high priest, the son of Hilkiyah, the son of Shalum, and to the priests and to all the people who were found with him at Yerushalem, 8 at the same time when he took the vessels of the house of the master, that had been carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Yehudah, the tenth day of Sivan—silver vessels which Tsidkiyah the son of Yoshiyah (Josiah) king of Yehudah had made, 9 after Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) king of Bavel had carried away Yekonias, the princes, the captives, the mighty men, and the people of the land from Yerushalem, and brought them to Bavel.

10 And they said: Listen, we have sent you money; therefore buy with the money burnt offerings, sin offerings, and incense, and prepare an oblation, and offer on the altar of the master our god; 11 and pray for the life of Nevukadnetsar king of Bavel, and for the life of Belshatsar (Belshazzar) his son, that their days may be[fn] as the days of heaven above the earth. 12 The master will give us strength and light to our eyes. We will live under the shadow of Nevukadnetsar king of Bavel and under the shadow of Belshatsar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and find favour in their sight. 13 Pray for us also to the master our god, for we have sinned against the master our god. To this day the wrath of the master and his indignation is not turned from us. 14 You shall read this book which we have sent to you, to make confession in the house of the master on the day of the feast and on the days of the solemn assembly.