Category:Baruch

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Baruch - ''Blessed. (1.) The secretary of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:12; Jeremiah 36:4). He was of the tribe of Judah (Jeremiah 51:59). To him Jeremiah dictated his prophecies regarding the invasion of the Babylonians and the Captivity. These he read to the people from a window in the temple in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah (Jeremiah 36). He afterwards read them before the counselors of the king at a private interview; and then to the king himself, who, after hearing a part of the roll, cut it with a penknife, and threw it into the fire of his winter parlor, where he was sitting. During the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, he was the keeper of the deed of purchase Jeremiah had made of the territory of Hanameel (Jeremiah 32:12). Being accused by his enemies of favoring the Chaldeans, he was cast, with Jeremiah, into prison, where he remained till the capture of Jerusalem (586 B.C.). He probably died in Babylon. (2.) Nehemiah 3:20; Nehemiah 10:6; Nehemiah 11:5.