In Jeremiah 29:1-23 was preserved a letter which Jeremiah wrote to those Judahites who were exiled with Jehoiachin king of Judah to Babylon around 593 BCE, encouraging the Judahites to expect a protracted exile and to seek the welfare of the city in which they had found themselves. Yet the Greek Septuagint also preserved an additional text often called the Letter of Jeremiah. What is this Letter of Jeremiah? What is its relationship to the Book of Baruch (1 Baruch)? Did Jeremiah ben Hilkiah the prophet, or Baruch his secretary, write it? How should Christians regard the Letter of Jeremiah?

The Letter of Jeremiah purported itself to be a letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent along with those Judahites being exiled to Babylon in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE (Letter of Jeremiah 1:1 / Baruch 6:1). The Letter of Jeremiah has been preserved in Greek; most scholars believe it was written originally in Hebrew or Aramaic. In the Greek Septuagint, the Letter of Jeremiah was preserved as an independent text; in the Latin Vulgate, it was preserved as the sixth chapter of the Book of Baruch; in the Ethiopian tradition, it was reckoned with the “Rest of Jeremiah” with some other apocryphal materials.

While the Letter of Jeremiah does seem to be an independent composition, most English versions of the Apocrypha follow the Latin Vulgate’s lead, and thus it can be often found as Baruch 6:1-73; it can also be found and read online here. The letter began as if Jeremiah were writing to the Judahites to be exiled in Babylon on account of their sins, and should expect to be there for quite some time, up to seven generations (Letter of Jeremiah 1:1-3 / Baruch 6:1-3). The point of the work would be set forth in the Letter of Jeremiah 1:4-7 / Baruch 6:4-7: in Babylon the Judahites would see all kinds of gods made from all kinds of materials, highly regarded by the local inhabitants who would encourage the Judahites to join in their service; they should instead serve God alone, and His angel would be watching over them there.

The rest of the Letter of Jeremiah featured a series of polemical arguments and exhortations against such idolatry. Such statues could not talk or move but would collect dust; their priests pilfer some of the precious materials made for the statue for their own regular or nefarious purposes; even if they held a scepter or a weapon, they proved unable to defend themselves; the doors of the temples were locked lest robbers enter and steal; the statues are blackened by smoke and animals freely move around on and among them and are consumed by them; therefore, they should not be feared or honored as gods (Letter of Jeremiah 1:8-23/ Baruch 6:8-23). All the gold and gifts showered upon such gods were for naught, for they are not felt or enjoyed by them; if the statue fell over, they could not get up themselves, but would need to be set back up by people; priests sell the sacrifices offered to these gods for their own profit or use the food for themselves without regard to the poor; therefore, they should not be feared or honored as gods (Letter of Jeremiah 1:24-29 / Baruch 6:24-29). How can such things be called gods when food was made for them which they would never eat, priests would rave before them but nothing would happen, nothing happened whether one acted well or poorly toward them, and they were not able to actually do anything good for anyone in distress or trial (Letter of Jeremiah 1:30-39 / Baruch 6:30-39)?

The Letter of Jeremiah then indicted some of the Babylonians for their practices, bringing the mute to Bel and praying they would speak, or the women waiting to take part in sacred prostitution and then deriding those who were not taken for being less attractive (Letter of Jeremiah 1:40-44 / Baruch 6:40-44). The author wondered how anyone could believe such statues could well and truly represent gods since the priests consult regarding where to hide them when calamity arises, neither the statues nor the ones who made them would live very long, they can be easily taken and plundered, and they cannot raise up kings, justice, or resistance in any way, shape, or form; pretty much everything else proves more useful than such “gods” (Letter of Jeremiah 1:45-59 / Baruch 6:45-59).

The Letter of Jeremiah struck at the heart of such idolatry by considering many of the natural forces often divinized or considered part of the domains of various gods and goddesses in ancient societies, demonstrating how they were not gods themselves but all reflect the hand of God and accomplish His purposes: the sun, moon, stars, lightning, wind, and fire (Letter of Jeremiah 1:60-69 / Baruch 6:60-69). The Letter of Jeremiah concluded by comparing such idol statues to scarecrows: they sat and did nothing and would rot and be consumed, and therefore the upright would not revere such idols or the gods they claimed to represent (Letter of Jeremiah 1:70-73 / Baruch 6:70-73).

Did Jeremiah ben Hilkiah really write the Letter of Jeremiah? The Letter of Jeremiah was never considered canonical as part of the Hebrew Bible, although some early Christians reported at least some Jewish people maintained a “Book of Jeremiah” which included the canonical books of Jeremiah and Lamentations along with the apocryphal Book of Baruch and Letter of Jeremiah. Some early Christians considered the Letter of Jeremiah as part of the works of Jeremiah and considered it inspired and canonical; some other early Christians maintained many doubts about its authenticity, and deemed it apocryphal and pseudepigraphal.

The Letter of Jeremiah no doubt took its inspiration from passages like Jeremiah 10:11, the only verse written in Aramaic in an otherwise Hebrew text, and Isaiah 44:9-20, and from them expressed this powerful polemic against idolatry. But it would prove very challenging to coherently argue Jeremiah ben Hilkiah himself was behind the Letter of Jeremiah, especially comparing the expected timeframes between Jeremiah 1:29 (seventy years) with the Letter of Jeremiah 1:3 (seven generations). Some have even attempted to date the writing of the Letter of Jeremiah to the middle of the fourth century BCE on account of the “seven generations” timeframe; it would make more sense than to suggest a sixth century authorship, but it could also be a sort of rhetorical flourish, indicating a longer exile than had been anticipated. The Letter of Jeremiah is thus generally considered to be an apocryphal and pseudepigraphal work of the Second Temple Period; its terminus ad quem must be somewhere in the middle of the second century BCE, since the Letter of Jeremiah seems to be cited in 2 Maccabees 2:1-3, and a portion of the Letter of Jeremiah in Greek was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QJeremiah).

Therefore, like the Book of Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah most likely represents an apocryphal work written by some anonymous Second Temple Jewish person. Does this mean the Letter of Jeremiah can provide no benefit to Christians? By no means! The Letter of Jeremiah was cited in 2 Maccabees 2:1-3 and found among parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the same kind of reason it would remain popular among many early Christians: it well expanded upon the prophetic indictment and condemnation of idolatry. It was not as if Jewish people would be exposed less to the service of idols and intense pressure from those who honored them after the prophets ceased speaking; far from it, in fact! Today we may not think what is presented in the Letter of Jeremiah was bold or controversial, but it would have been very much so in the world of antiquity, both under the dominance of Near Eastern powers like Babylon and Persia as well as Western powers like the Macedonians and Romans. Most of the people around the Jewish people believed the idols represented the gods and goddesses behind the natural forces which could give them health and prosperity or its complete opposite. To forthrightly denounce these statues as lifeless and powerless, and all the forces being served as gods or as the power of gods as really under subjection to the God of heaven remained just as necessary in the latter Persian period and the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, and Roman periods as they had in the days of Assyria and Babylon.

Christians also must be on guard against idolatry, even though our forms of idolatry rarely involve statues in temples (cf. 1 John 5:21). While we do best to recognize the Letter of Jeremiah as apocryphal and pseudepigraphal and therefore not canonical or inspired, we can also appreciate its exhortation and message and what it would have meant for the Jewish people in antiquity, perpetually surrounded by people serving statues as gods, and allow it to help inform how we view and approach the world of Second Temple Judaism which shaped Jesus, the Apostles, and therefore the New Testament and the Christian faith as we know it. May we turn aside from all idols and serve the true and living God in Christ through the Spirit!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Works Consulted

Letter of Jeremiah. (accessed 2025/11/24).

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