Epistle of Jeremy

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Hebrew Bible or Old Testament for details see Biblical canon
Jewish, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Torah/Pentateuch Joshua (Jesus Nave) Judges Ruth 1–2 Samuel 1–2 Kings 1–2 Chronicles Ezra (see Esdras for other names) Nehemiah (see Esdras) Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Minor prophets
Roman Catholic and Orthodox include but Jews and Protestants exclude: Tobit Judith 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees Wisdom (of Solomon) Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) (Wisdom of Sirach) Baruch, includes Letter of Jeremiah (Additions to Jeremiah) Additions to Daniel Additions to Esther
Orthodox (Synod of Jerusalem) include: 1 Esdras (see Esdras for other names) 3 Maccabees 4 Maccabees (in appendix but not canonical) Prayer of Manasseh Psalm 151
Russian and Ethiopian Orthodox includes: 2 Esdras (see Esdras for other names)
Ethiopian Orthodox Bible includes: Jubilees Enoch 1–3 Meqabyan
Syriac Peshitta Bible includes: Psalm 152–155 2 Baruch This box: view • talk • edit

The Epistle of Jeremy is a deuterocanonical (or apocryphal) book of the Old Testament; this letter purports to have been written by Jeremiah (Jeremy) to the exiles who were to be taken captive into Babylon.

1 Author
2 Date
3 Canonicity
4 Contents
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Author

Most scholars argue that the author was not Jeremiah, but a Hellenistic Jew who lived in Alexandria. Whoever the author, the work was written with a serious practical purpose: to instruct the Jews not to worship the gods of the Babylonians, but to worship only the Lord.

[edit] Date

The date of this work is uncertain. It is interesting to note that 2 Maccabees may be referring to this letter in chapter 2 verses 1-3. However, the reference in 2 Maccabees is disputed by Fritzsche, Gifford, Shrer, and others.

[edit] Canonicity

The epistle is included in the Greek Bible, standing as a discrete unit in the Septuagint. There was no question of its canonicity until the time of Jerome,^{[citation needed]} who believed that it, among the other books he called apocryphal, was not canonical.

It is included as chapter 6 of the book of Baruch in the Old Testament of the Vulgate. In the Ethiopian Orthodox canon, it forms part of the "Rest of Jeremiah", along with 4 Baruch (also known as the Paraleipomena of Jeremiah).

The epistle is one of three deuterocanonical books found among the Dead Sea scrolls. (The other two are Ben Sira and Tobit.) The portion of the epistle discovered at Qumran was written in Greek, but a Hebrew original is very likely.

[edit] Contents

The author warned the exiles that they were to remain in captivity for 7 generations; that they would there see the worship paid to idols, and that they were strictly to hold aloof from all participation; for the idols were nothing save the work of men's hands, without the powers of speech, hearing or self-preservation. They could not bless their worshippers, even in the smallest concerns of life; they were indifferent to moral qualities, and were of less value than the commonest household objects, and finally, with rare irony, the author compared an idol to a scarecrow (v. 70), impotent to protect, but deluding to the imagination. The most striking thing about this work is that Babylon really is meant, because modern historians admit that no other people are known to have carried their gods around on their shoulders; some scholars point to this description as evidence that Jeremiah may have actually written this work. The Jewish historian named Josephus mentions a curious legend where Jeremiah sends a letter to the exiles in Babylon and commands that it be thrown into the sea after it has been delivered.