The Book of 4 Baruch

4 Baruch (also: Paraleipomena Jeremiou) is canonical scripture for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. One of the only complete copies of 4 Baruch is available in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic) that is used by the Tewahedo Church, here used with permission by the Bible Society of Ethiopia.

The translation into English used here: English Translation of the Longer and Shorter Versions of the Paraleipomena Jeremiou. Public Domain CATSS edition by Robert A. Kraft, 15 Dec 1987, with editorial alterations by Abraham Haile and additional translations by Haileyesus Woldemariam.

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin) and in Apinayé as “person next to one” (source: Patricia Ham in Notes on Translation, August 1965, p. 2).

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)