1. [This 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:
2. "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:
3. 'You have said, Woe is me, because the LORD has added misery to my pain! I am worn out with groaning and have found no rest.
4. " 'This is what you are to say to him: This is what the LORD says: What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot-- the whole land!
5. But as for you, do you seek great things for yourself? Stop seeking! For I am about to bring disaster on every living creature'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'but I will grant you your life like the spoils [of war] wherever you go.'"