Jeremiah 45: The LORD's Personal Message to Baruch

A short, personal chapter where God answers Baruch's grief with a promise to spare his life.

Jeremiah 45 - A Word of Comfort for Baruch

This brief chapter records a private message from years earlier, given when Baruch first wrote Jeremiah's scroll in the events recalled around Jeremiah 44. Baruch has cried out in sorrow, and the LORD answers his exhaustion directly.


The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book from the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, to thee, O Baruch;

Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

Thus shalt thou say to him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, [that] which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.

And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek [them] not: for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give to thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

God warns He is breaking down what He built, yet promises Baruch his life will be spared wherever he goes, a mercy similar to the one given Ebedmelech in <a href="/bible/wbt/jeremiah/chapter-39/18">Jeremiah 39:18</a>. The prophecies against the nations begin next in <a href="/bible/wbt/jeremiah/chapter-46">Jeremiah 46</a>.