Fourth Baruch

Now it happened on the day when the Lord brought the people out of Babylon.

And the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Rise up, you and the people, and come to the Jordan, and you shall say to the people, ‘Whoever desires the Lord, let him abandon the works of Babylon!’”

“And the males who have taken wives from them, and the women who have taken husbands from them—those who listen to you shall cross over, and bring them to Jerusalem. But those who do not listen to you, do not bring them in there.”

And Jeremiah spoke these words to the people; and rising up, they came to the Jordan to cross over.

And as he spoke to them the words which the Lord had spoken to him, half of those who had married from among them did not wish to listen to Jeremiah, but said to him, “We will never abandon our wives, but we will bring them back with us to our city!”

So they crossed the Jordan and came to Jerusalem.

And Jeremiah and Baruch and Abimelech stood, saying, “No one who has associated with Babylonians shall enter this city.”

And they said to themselves, “Let us rise up and return to Babylon to our place”; and they departed.

And when they came to Babylon, the Babylonians came out to meet them, saying, “You shall not enter our city, because you hated us, and you secretly departed from us; therefore you shall not enter among us.”

“For we swore an oath to one another by the name of our God, neither to receive you nor your children, since you secretly departed from us.”

And realizing this, they turned back and came to a deserted place far from Jerusalem, and they built a city for themselves, and they named it Samaria.

And Jeremiah sent to them, saying, “Repent! For the angel of righteousness is coming, and he will bring you to your lofty place.”