http://www.humanreligions.info/baruch_and_jeremiah.html
By Vexen Crabtree 2012
Included as holy:
Catholic Bible
Title: Baruch
Section: Major Prophets
Prev: Lamentations
Next: Ezechiel
Eastern Orthodox Bibles
Title: Letter of Jeremiah
Section: Major Prophets
Rejected by:
Jewish Tanakh
Protestant Bibles
The book of Baruch "is supposedly the work of Baruch, who was the scribe or secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. It is, however, thought to be of composite authorship. It begins with an address by Baruch to the exiles in Babylon, with a prayer of confession, and prayers asking for forgiveness and salvation. The next section speaks in praise of wisdom, and the last chapters are a lament of Jerusalem for the captives, with a final assurance that they will be restored to their home."1.
The Letter of Jeremiah often appears as chapter 6 of 1 Baruch. It was "probably composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, [and] is the oldest writing in the Apocrypha. A Greek fragment dating from around 100 BCE was found in Qumran Cave VII. [...] A date between 323 and 100 BCE seems possible; perhaps around 300 is most likely. [...] The document is "a letter" pseudonymously attributed to Jeremiah (verse 1); it contains seventy-two or seventy-three verses. The work is not a letter but a passionate sermon or plea to fellow Jews not to fear or worship idols"2.