tell Jeremiah when I meet with him.”  And he went out of the city.  But when he looked back upon it, he could see that it was indeed Jerusalem; and he said, “It is surely the city, yet there is something wrong.”  He went into the city the second time, but he could find none that knew him.  And he said, “God preserve me!  Verily a delusion has fallen upon me,” and went outside the city and sat down with the basket of figs, saying, “Here will I sit until my eyes are opened, and I can discern the truth.”  After some time he saw an old man coming from the fields, and said to him, “Old man, what is this city, I pray you?” The old man said, “It is Jerusalem.”  Ebedmelech said, “Where are Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the scribe?” The old man answered, “You are certainly not of this city, that you inquire concerning these men.  Jeremiah is in Babylon with the people that were carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar the king.”  Then Ebedmelech marvelled and said, “If you were not an aged man, whom it is not lawful to mock, I should have said you were mad.  How many hours is it, think you, since Jeremiah sent me to the garden of Agrippa for some figs for the sick people, and I went and gathered them and slumbered for a little under a tree, and have just now brought them back; and here they are with the juice oozing from them, just as when I picked them; and you say the people and Jeremiah are gone to Babylon!” And he opened the basket and showed the figs.  And when the old man saw them he said, “Verily, my son, God has had mercy on you.  He has spared you from seeing the desolation of the city.  Behold, to-day it is sixty-and-six years since the people were carried away.  And, if you believe not me, look upon the trees and see that it is not the time of figs.”  Then Ebedmelech asked, “What then is this month, and what is the day?” And he answered, “It is the twelfth day of Nisan.”  And Ebedmelech believed, and gave thanks to God; and after that he gave the old man some of the figs, and bade him farewell, saying, “May God guide thee to the Jerusalem which is above.”  And he went to find Baruch.

And after a while he found him dwelling in a tomb; and they greeted one another, and rejoiced, and Ebedmelech told Baruch all that had happened to him, and Baruch marvelled and praised God.  Then they consulted how they might send word to Jeremiah at Babylon; for they perceived that the time of the return of Israel was at hand.  And it was revealed to them that on the morrow at dawn there should come a messenger whom they might send.

On the morrow, therefore, Baruch rose early and went out of the tomb, and saw an eagle sitting upon a rock hard by; and he called to it and it came, and spoke with a man’s voice, saying, “I am sent hither to bear a message for thee.”  Baruch said, “Canst thou carry a letter to Babylon, to Jeremiah the prophet?” And the eagle said, “To that end am I sent.”  So they wrote a letter, and took fifteen of the figs from