Baruch 1

How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.

King James Version

1And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Asadias, the son of Chelcias, wrote in Babylon,

And these are the words of the book which Baruch wrote in Babylon — confusion enthroned as an empire — Baruch the son of Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Asadias, the son of Chelcias (the names kept in their order: the order of states that bore him).

2In the fifth year, and in the seventh day of the month, what time as the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.

In the fifth year, and on the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem — the established center of spiritual consciousness, the city of peace — and burned it with fire.

3And Baruch did read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joachim king of Juda, and in the ears of all the people that came to hear the book,

And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias the son of Joachim, king — the ruling state — of Juda — Praise — and in the ears of all the people that came to hear the book,

4And in the hearing of the nobles, and of the king’s sons, and in the hearing of the elders, and of all the people, from the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon by the river Sud.

And in the hearing of the nobles, and of the king's sons, and of the elders, and of all the people, from the lowest unto the highest, even of all them that dwelt at Babylon by the river Sud — the current of thought flowing through the captive state.

5Whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord.

Whereupon they wept, fasted — held the sense-life back — and prayed before the indwelling LORD.

6They made also a collection of money according to every man’s power:

They made also a collection of money — outer substance gathered from each one — according to every man's power:

7And they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest, the son of Chelcias, son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem,

And they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest — the chief mediating faculty — the son of Chelcias, son of Salom, and to the priests — the mediating faculties — and to all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem,

8At the same time when he received the vessels of the house of the Lord, that were carried out of the temple, to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month Sivan, namely, silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made,

At the same time when he received the vessels of the house of the indwelling LORD, that were carried out of the temple — the established sanctuary-state — to return them into the land of Juda, the tenth day of the month Sivan, namely, silver vessels, which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made,

9After that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and the captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought them unto Babylon.

After that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias, and the princes, and the captives, and the mighty men, and the people of the land, from Jerusalem, and brought them unto Babylon.

10And they said, Behold, we have sent you money to buy you burnt offerings, and sin offerings, and incense, and prepare ye manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God;

And they said: Behold, we have sent you money to buy you burnt offerings — the whole state yielded up, nothing kept back — and sin offerings — a faculty yielded for its error — and incense, and prepare ye manna — the daily bread of heaven — and offer upon the altar — the built point of consecration — of the indwelling LORD our God, the Source;

11And pray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven:

And pray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth — the outer life — as the days of heaven — the inner realm:

12And the Lord will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we shall live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and find favour in their sight.

And the indwelling LORD will give us strength, and lighten our eyes, and we shall live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and we shall serve them many days, and find favour in their sight.

13Pray for us also unto the Lord our God, for we have sinned against the Lord our God; and unto this day the fury of the Lord and his wrath is not turned from us.

Pray for us also unto the indwelling LORD our God: for we have sinned — erred, missed the mark — against the LORD our God; and unto this day the fury of the LORD, the divine order set against the state, and his wrath is not turned from us.

14And ye shall read this book which we have sent unto you, to make confession in the house of the Lord, upon the feasts and solemn days.

And ye shall read this book which we have sent unto you, to make confession in the house of the indwelling LORD, upon the feasts and solemn days — the appointed seasons of the state.

15And ye shall say, To the Lord our God belongeth righteousness, but unto us the confusion of faces, as it is come to pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

And ye shall say: To the indwelling LORD our God belongeth righteousness — right relation to the divine order — but unto us the confusion of faces — the surface of awareness fallen into confusion — as it is come to pass this day, unto them of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

16And to our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers:

And to our kings — our ruling states — and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets — the forth-telling faculties — and to our fathers:

17For we have sinned before the Lord,

For we have sinned before the indwelling LORD,

18And disobeyed him, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the commandments that he gave us openly:

And disobeyed him, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the indwelling LORD our God, to walk in the commandments — the specific articulations of the law — that he gave us openly:

19Since the day that the Lord brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, unto this present day, we have been disobedient unto the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not hearing his voice.

Since the day that the indwelling LORD brought our forefathers out of the land of Egypt — the material sense-realm, the narrow straits — unto this present day, we have been disobedient unto the LORD our God, and we have been negligent in not hearing his voice.

20Wherefore the evils cleaved unto us, and the curse, which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milk and honey, like as it is to see this day.

Wherefore the evils cleaved unto us, and the curse, which the indwelling LORD appointed by Moses — the deliverer-lawgiver faculty — his servant, at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milk and honey, like as it is to see this day.

21Nevertheless we have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God, according unto all the words of the prophets, whom he sent unto us:

Nevertheless we have not hearkened unto the voice of the indwelling LORD our God, according unto all the words of the prophets, whom he sent unto us:

22But every man followed the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

But every man followed the imagination of his own wicked heart — the heart of a state twisted away from the divine order — to serve strange gods — formed images of lesser goods worshipped in the Source's place — and to do evil in the sight of the indwelling LORD our God.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.