1:1 These are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maasiah, the son of Zedekiah, the son of Hasadiah, the son of Hilkiah, wrote in Babylon, 1:2 in the fifth year, and on the seventh day of the month, since the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burnt it with fire. 1:3 Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and to the ears of all the people who came to hear the book, 1:4 and 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 to the highest, even of all those who dwelt at Babylon by the river Sud; 1:5 whereupon they wept, fasted, and prayed before the Lord.