(Sixth century b.c.e.) religious scribe and prophet The Bible portrays “Baruch, son of Neriah” as the companion and secretary to Jeremiah, the famous prophet at the time of the Babylonian deportation of Judah (587 b.c.e.). His dedicated service to Jeremiah brought him into the same ignominy and hardship as his master, though most likely he was born an aristocrat and received the benefi t of education. He compiled two scrolls
of prophecies, one for the king of Judah, which was burned later, and the other for the possession of Jer emiah.
This latter scroll may be the core of the biblical book of Jeremiah. Baruch’s role as Jeremiah’s scribe may be why he is cited as author in several sequels to the book of Jeremiah. When Jeremiah was forced to flee from Jerusalem to Egypt (582 b.c.e.) in the aftermath of the Babylonian invasion, Baruch accompanied him. This is the last mentioned abode for Baruch in the Hebrew Bible, though Jeremiah elsewhere in his book promises that Baruch would survive the general turmoil but live the life of a refugee. According to Christian biblical scholar Jerome, Baruch shared the fate of Jeremiah, who presumably died in Egypt. Later Jewish sources disagree. Rabbinic authorities assume that Baruch went to Babylon.
It is here that the deuterocanonical book of Baruch (accepted by Catholic and Orthodox Christians) locates him. This book consists of several distinct parts and is probably
an assortment of writings intended to encourage the scattered people of Israel in the centuries following the Babylonian invasion. An even later book called Second
Baruch or the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (parts of which are accepted by the Syriac Christians) shows the scribe speaking, praying, and writing mainly in the environs
of Jerusalem just as the Babylonians are on the verge of conquering Jerusalem.
In this text Baruch overshadows his master.
He commands Jeremiah to depart and encourage the exiles in Babylon. Afterward the stage is empty except for Baruch, who dominates the rest of the book with his visions, prayers, and instructions. The focus of Baruch’s ministry in Jerusalem is the training of the surviving elders, but he increasingly addresses larger audiences, first the remaining residents of the city and then the people
scattered in the Diaspora. The latter group he reaches through a letter that concludes the book. The tradition of Baruch survived outside the rabbinic Jewish tradition. Spurious books (parts of books) attributed to Baruch have appeared in many languages,
including Latin, Greek, Syriac, Hebrew, and Arabic. Other names for Baruch in Hebrew are Berechiah and Barachel. His name has been found on a clay seal impression, or bulla, reading, “[belonging] to Berechiah, son of Neriah, the scribe,” a relatively rare
reference
to a biblical person from a contemporary non-biblical
source.
See also Apocalypticism, Jewish and Christian;
Babylon, later periods; Christianity, early; Israel and
Judah; prophets; Syriac culture and church.
Further reading: Whitters, Mark F. The Epistle of Second
Baruch. London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2008; Wright,
Though he was a political scientist and economist, Stephen Leacock is
not known for his writing on those subjects; rather, he is famous for
his sense of humor and his witty stories that continue to inspire writers
and comedians today. A good sense of humor can get you through just about anything; if he were still with us,Stephen Leacock would be the first to agree.A hundred years ago, Leacock was probably the best-known humor writer and mostfamous Canadian in the world. His stories and books, such as Sunshine Sketches of aLittle Town, had brought him fame and fortune.
And soon-to-be-legendary comedianslike Jack Benny and Groucho Marx were inspired by his writing.But, as funny as he was, Leacock hadn’t always had much to laugh about.His family moved to the little town of Egypt, Ontario from England, where they had beenquite wealthy. However, their Canadian farm failed and his father became an alcoholicwho beat his wife and children. It was up to Stephen to stand up to his own father andkick him out of the house.A top student, Stephen had to put himself through university by taking teaching jobs,which he hated. He started trying to sell his stories to magazines as a way of making extramoney for school - his real interests were economics and politics.Leacock eventually became head of the political economy department at McGillUniversity in Montreal. By that time, his stories had taken off and his fame had begun tospread worldwide.
Even then, Leacock had a hard time. He had married a wealthy young woman and theytried for fifteen years to have a child. Then their only son was born with a birth defect,and Leacock’s wife died of cancer just ten years later.Through all of his personal problems, and despite the frustration of having his politicalscience and economic work ignored compared to his funny stories, Stephen Leacock kepthis remarkable sense of humor.That humor not only got him through some dark times, it also assured him a place inhistory. Every year, the Stephen Leacock Award is given to the funniest writer in Canada,and Leacock’s books are still found in classrooms and libraries across the country - nothis dry works on politics and economy, but the collections of witty tales and parodies thatpreserve his reputation as a man who made the world laugh.
Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket from Florida.
The rocket was carrying two Nasa spacecraft deployed towards Mars. The Escapade satellites will take 22 months to reach Mars and will orbit the planet to measure its atmosphere and magnetic field.
A transport enthusiast, a beauty advocate and a mum teaching people how to raise an autistic child were among the winners of the second annual TikTok awards.
Hosted by TV presenter AJ Odudu at Magazine London, awards were handed out in 12 categories including fashion, travel, food and education.
And taking home the coveted prize of creator of the year was Max Klymenko, who is best known for his career ladder series, which he says is the most popular non-animated show in the world.
In case you've not seen it, Max sets up his stepladder in various public spaces and invites passers-by to join him standing on the ladder while he tries to guess their career with a series of yes/no questions.
Max came to the UK from Ukraine 14 years ago and said the reason he started creating content was because he found it impossible to get a job to get his own career going.
"I had a lot of anxiety and stress around finding a job so I created videos helping people know what jobs were available to them." Gold ladder in hand, Max, who has 8.5 million followers on TikTok, dedicated his award to his grandma in Ukraine who "has no electricity to follow along".
"I'm calling her right after this," he said, explaining that she used to log-in from different TikTok accounts when he first started creating content so it looked like he had more views.
The 29-year-old, who accepted his award from last year's winner Kyra-Mae Turner added that he was grateful his content was being recognised because "everything you see when you scroll on the toilet or in bed takes hours to make".
The nominees have a combined follower count of more than 83 million and the winners were voted for by five million people on the app.
England have cruised through World Cup qualifying, winning all seven of their games and scoring 20 unanswered goals, setting several records and leaving them on the cusp of another.
If Thomas Tuchel's team beat Albania in Sunday's final qualifier (17:00 GMT) and keep a clean sheet, they will become the first European side to play at least six qualifiers and win them all without conceding.
A clean sweep of victories - regardless of goals conceded - is also a rare achievement. Excluding the early years of the World Cup, when teams often played just a handful of preliminary matches, only four European countries have finished with a 100% winning record.
Germany were the last side to do so on the way to the 2018 tournament, though they went on to suffer a shock early exit in Russia. Spain and the Netherlands, who met in the 2010 final, both qualified for South Africa in perfect style, as did West Germany for the 1982 tournament.
England are not the only side on the verge of joining this exclusive list - Spain and Norway have likewise won all their 2026 qualifiers, with Luis de la Fuente's team yet to concede a goal.
Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket from Florida.
The rocket was carrying two Nasa spacecraft deployed towards Mars. The Escapade satellites will take 22 months to reach Mars and will orbit the planet to measure its atmosphere and magnetic field.
The reusable booster powering New Glenn also separated from the rocket's upper stage and touched down on a floating landing pad in the Atlantic Ocean, in a successful first for Blue Origin.
Elon Musk's SpaceX had been the only to accomplish this feat until now.
The country of Assyria encompasses the north of Mesopotamia, made up of city-states that were politically unified after the middle of the second millennium b.c.e. Assyria derived its name from the city-state Ashur (Assur). This city was subject to the
Agade king, Manishtushu, and the Ur III king, AmarSin. During the Ur III period, Ashur also appears as the name of the city’s patron deity. Scholars have suggested that the god derived his name from the city
and, indeed, may even represent the religious idealization of the city’s political power.
The Old Assyrian period (c. 2000–1750 b.c.e.) began when the city of Ashur regained its independence. Its royal building inscriptions are the first attested writing in Old Assyrian, an Akkadian dialect distinct from the Old Babylonian then used in southern Mesopotamia. This period also saw the institution of the limmu, whereby each year became named after an Assyrian official, selected by the casting of lots. The sequence
of limmu names is not continuous for the second millennium b.c.e., but has been completely preserved for the first millennium b.c.e. A solar eclipse (dated astronomically to 763 b.c.e.) has been dated by limmu and thus provides a fixed chronology for Assyrian and by means of synchronisms much of ancient Near Eastern history.
During the Old Assyrian period Ashur engaged extensively in long-distance trade, establishing merchant colonies at Kanesh and other Anatolian cities. Ashur
imported tin from Iran and textiles from Babylonia and, in turn, exported them to Kanesh. Due to political upheavals, Kanesh was eventually destroyed, and Assyria’s Anatolian trade was disrupted. Before this disaster, moreover, Ashur itself had been incorporated
into the growing empire of Eshnunna.
Around the end of the 19th century b.c.e., the Amorite Shamshi-Adad I attacked the Eshnunna empire and conquered the cities of Ekallatum, Ashur, and Shekhna (renamed Shubat-Enlil). With the defeat of Mari in 1796 b.c.e., Shamshi-Adad could rightfully boast that he “united the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates” in northern Mesopotamia. The Assyrian King List was manipulated so as to include Shamshi-Adad in the line of native rulers, despite his foreign origins.
Malcolm Gladwell’s first book, The Tipping Point, created a sensation: It contained original thinking with huge practical applications. He followed that book with others that were equally creative, and just as successful.“Little things can make a big difference.” “Trust your gut and follow your instincts.”“Success usually comes down to hard work and learning from what other people havealready done.”These familiar sayings are a lot more than just words to Malcolm Gladwell. He haswritten a number of internationally bestselling books that use science and statistics toprove why such simple sayings are true.Gladwell, who was born in England but raised in Canada, has been a newspaper andmagazine writer for many years, but his books have made him famous.His first book, The Tipping Point, demonstrates how small ideas and trends can build upinto a huge force.
A catchy idea that gets out at the right time to well-connected peoplecan literally change the world. Using concrete examples, he shows how some productsand brands get to be famous, seemingly overnight, and how we can use this same methodto make important social issues into the topics everyone is talking about.In his second book, Blink, Gladwell writes about our minds, and about how quickly oursubconscious is able make good decisions. In other words, our so-called “gut instincts”(the thoughts and emotions we have without consciously thinking about them) are usually
reliable. He also says that if you work at learning and practicing how to do something,you can tap the power of your subconscious to do it automatically - quickly andeffectively.In his third book, Outliers, Gladwell explains that while the extraordinary people we seechanging the world have often had lucky breaks, we can nevertheless achieve amazingsuccess by taking advantage of our opportunities and simply putting in the effort. Hedemonstrates, through examples, that success usually comes after a long history of workby many people, each of them building on what others have done before - and he pointsout that we can all be part of that chain.Malcolm Gladwell wants his work to inspire people.
He states, “If you work hard enoughand assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to yourdesires.” The “working hard” part is the key: “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’regood; it’s the thing that makes you good.”Through his books, Gladwell has done what he advises other people to do - use one’sideas and efforts to make positive changes. Time magazine has named him one of the onehundred most influential people in the world.