Single lesson
The community confesses disobedience and its consequences
Baruch 1:15–2:10
This confession speaks with honesty about guilt, shame, and suffering. It repeats that the Lord is righteous, while the people admit they have sinned, refused to listen, and now live with the consequences of disobedience.
Before you teach
Baruch 1:15–2:10 is part of a spoken confession. The passage names many groups, recalls the Lord bringing their fathers out of Egypt, refers to commands set before them, and explains present plagues and disgrace as connected to long-standing disobedience.
Explain the central teaching of The community confesses disobedience and its consequences, using two details from the reading. This passage teaches that the community openly admits its sin, recognises the Lord’s righteousness, and links its suffering to refusing his commandments.
Welcome: The community confesses disobedience and its consequences
5 minIntroduce “The community confesses disobedience and its consequences” and locate Baruch 1:15–2:10. This passage teaches that the community openly admits its sin, recognises the Lord’s righteousness, and links its suffering to refusing his commandments. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 2:2, Baruch 2:10
Read and explain the passage
12 minThe confession begins by contrasting the Lord’s righteousness with the people’s “confusion of face”, meaning open shame or disgrace. This shame is shared broadly: Judah, Jerusalem, kings, princes, priests, prophets, and fathers are all included. The reason given is plain: “we have sinned before the Lord.”
The people say the plagues and curse came after the Lord declared them through Moses. Even so, they did not listen when the Lord spoke through prophets. Instead, each person followed the imagination or thoughts of a wicked heart, served strange gods, and did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.
The confession returns to its opening claim: righteousness belongs to the Lord, and shame belongs to the people. It admits the plagues came as pronounced, yet says they had still not sought the Lord’s favour by turning from wicked thoughts. The closing line repeats the central failure: they had not listened to his voice.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “The community confesses disobedience and its consequences”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 1:16, Baruch 1:17, Baruch 1:20, Baruch 1:21, Baruch 1:22, Baruch 2:6, Baruch 2:7, Baruch 2:8, Baruch 2:9, Baruch 2:10
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “Which groups are included in the confession, and what does that show about the scope of the problem?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage teaches that the community openly admits its sin, recognises the Lord’s righteousness, and links its suffering to refusing his commandments. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 1:16, Baruch 1:18, Baruch 1:22, Baruch 2:8, Baruch 2:10, Baruch 2:6, Baruch 2:9
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “The community confesses disobedience and its consequences: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “The community confesses disobedience and its consequences” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 2:2, Baruch 2:10
Closing: return to The community confesses disobedience and its consequences
3 minRevisit Baruch 1:15–2:10. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about The community confesses disobedience and its consequences and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 2:2, Baruch 2:10
Questions to explore
Which groups are included in the confession, and what does that show about the scope of the problem?
List the groups named in Baruch 1:15–1:16 and notice that the confession spreads across the whole community, from leaders to fathers.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 1:16
How does this passage describe sin in practical terms?
Look for the repeated actions in the text: not listening to the Lord’s voice, not walking in his commandments, following wicked thoughts, and serving strange gods.
Baruch 1:18, Baruch 1:22, Baruch 2:8, Baruch 2:10
What two ideas are repeated together throughout the passage?
Trace the repeated contrast between the Lord’s righteousness and the people’s shame, and connect it with the repeated admission that they did not listen.
Baruch 1:15, Baruch 2:6, Baruch 2:9, Baruch 2:10
Make, think or respond
The community confesses disobedience and its consequences: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Baruch 1:15–2:10. Use “The community confesses disobedience and its consequences” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of The community confesses disobedience and its consequences connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “The community confesses disobedience and its consequences” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Baruch 1:15–2:10. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Baruch 1:15–2:10. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Baruch 1
15 You shall say: To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face, as at this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
16 to our kings, to our princes, to our priests, to our prophets, and to our fathers,
17 because we have sinned before the Lord.
18 We have disobeyed him and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he has set before us.
19 Since the day that the Lord brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to this present day, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not listening to his voice.
20 Therefore the plagues have clung to us, along with the curse which the Lord declared through Moses his servant in the day that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to give us a land that flows with milk and honey, as at this day.
21 Nevertheless we didn’t listen to the voice of the Lord our God, according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us,
22 but we each walked in the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods and to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.
Baruch 2
1 Therefore the Lord has made good his word which he pronounced against us, and against our judges who judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah,
2 to bring upon us great plagues such as never happened before under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are written in the law of Moses,
3 that we should each eat the flesh of our own son, and each eat the flesh of our own daughter.
4 Moreover he has given them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are around us, to be a reproach and a desolation among all the people around us, where the Lord has scattered them.
5 Thus they were cast down and not exalted, because we sinned against the Lord our God in not listening to his voice.
6 To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day.
7 All these plagues have come upon us which the Lord has pronounced against us.
8 Yet have we not entreated the favor of the Lord by everyone turning from the thoughts of his wicked heart.
9 Therefore the Lord has kept watch over the plagues. The Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he has commanded us.
10 Yet we have not listened to his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he has set before us.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.