Captives Gather Silver Near Babylon

Baruch reads his record to the exiled king Jeconiah and the captives living along the Sud River. The Babylonian military burned the city of Jerusalem five years earlier in 581 b.c. The displaced families weep and fast upon hearing the text read aloud.

They collect a heavy sum of silver to send back to the high priest Jehoiakim in Judea. The exiles instruct the priests to buy wheat for grain offerings and livestock for burnt offerings. They ask the remaining priests to pray for Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar.

The returned silver allows the priests in Jerusalem to maintain the altar of the God of Israel. The Babylonian king previously hauled the original temple vessels across roughly 550 miles of open desert. The new funds help the Judeans maintain daily sacrifices amid the stone rubble.

Pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar his son, that their days on earth may be like the days of heaven.

The scroll shifts from logistical instructions into a communal confession of national guilt. The exiles admit they ignored the prophets and rebelled against the Almighty. They ask the Judeans to read this confession aloud in the ruined temple courtyard during the appointed feast days.