2 BARUCH 78
The letter to the nine and a half tribes
78:1 The letter of Baruch, the son of Neriah which he wrote to the nine and a half tribes. These are the words of the letter which Baruch, the son of Neriah' sent to the nine and a half tribes which were across the rivers in which were written the following things:
78:2 Thus speaks Baruch, the son of Neriah, to the brothers who were carried away in captivity:
78:3 Free unmerited favor and pardon and shalom be with you. I remember, my brothers, the love of HIM who created me, who loved us from the beginning and who never hated us but, on the contrary, chastised us.
78:4 And truly I know: Are we not all, the twelve tribes, bound by one captivity as we also descend from one father?
78:5 Therefore, I have been the more diligent to leave you the words of this letter before I die so that you may be comforted regarding the evils which have befallen you, and you may also be grieved with regard to the evils which have befallen your brothers, and then further, so that you may consider the judgment of HIM who decreed it against you to be righteous, namely, that you should be carried away into captivity, for what you have suffered is smaller than what you have done, in order that you may be found worthy of your fathers in the last times.
78:6 Therefore, if you think about the things you have suffered now for your excellence so that you may not be condemned at the end and be tormented, you shall receive hope which lasts forever and ever, particularly if you remove from your hearts the idol error for which you went away from here.
78:7 For if you do these things in this way, HE shall continually remember you. HE is the one who always promised on our behalf to those who are more excellent than we that HE will not forever forget or forsake our offspring, but with much mercy assemble all those again who were dispersed."