Baruch was the son of Neriah and served as the personal scribe and secretary to the prophet Jeremiah. He wrote down Jeremiah's prophecies on scrolls, read them publicly, and remained faithful to the prophet through persecution and the fall of Jerusalem. He accompanied Jeremiah to Egypt after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem.
2"Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you in the days of Josiah until now.
3Perhaps when the house of Judah hears of all the disaster I intend to bring on them, they will each turn from their evil way, and I will forgive their guilt and their sin."
Baruch read publicly from the scroll containing Jeremiah's prophecies in the house of the Lord on a day of fasting, so that all the people could hear God's word.
9In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast before the LORD was proclaimed for all the people of Jerusalem and for all who came in to Jerusalem from the towns of Judah.
10Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read Jeremiah's words from the scroll at the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's house.
23Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe's knife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire.
26Instead the king ordered Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.
32So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah the scribe, and as Jeremiah dictated, he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
1This is the word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah's dictation, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
4Say this to him: This is what the LORD says: Look — what I have built I am tearing down, and what I have planted I am uprooting; and so it will be throughout the whole land.
5And you — are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I am about to bring disaster on all flesh, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will grant you your life as spoil.
5Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took the whole remnant of Judah—those who had come back from all the nations where they had been scattered, to live in the land of Judah:
6the men, the women, the children, the king's daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, along with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.