Jeremiah 36:1-32
Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. 6 So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”
8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. 9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. 10 From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12 he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13 After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, 14 all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. 15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”
So Baruch read it to them. 16 When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” 17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”
18 “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
20 After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. 21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. 29 Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” 30 Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’”
32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
The message from the LORD came to Jeremiah...This was during the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah...This was the message from the LORD: “Jeremiah, get a scroll and write on it all the messages I have spoken to you...I have spoken to you about the nations of Israel and Judah and all the other nations...Write all the words that I have spoken to you from the time that Josiah was king, until now...Maybe the people of Judah will hear what I am planning to do to them and will stop doing bad things...If they will do that, I will forgive them for the terrible sins they have committed.”...So Jeremiah called a man named Baruch son of Neriah...Jeremiah spoke the messages the LORD had given him...While he spoke, Baruch wrote the messages on the scroll...Then Jeremiah said to Baruch, “I cannot go to the LORD’s Temple...I am not allowed to go there...So I want you to go to the Temple of the LORD...Go there on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll...Read to the people the messages from the LORD that you wrote on the scroll as I spoke them to you...Read them to all the people of Judah who come into Jerusalem from the towns where they live...Perhaps they will ask the LORD to help them...Perhaps each person will stop doing bad things...The LORD has announced that He is very angry with them.”...So Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do...Baruch read aloud the scroll that had the LORD’s messages written on it....He read it in the LORD’s Temple...In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king, a fast was announced...All those who lived in the city of Jerusalem and everyone who had come into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah were supposed to fast before the LORD...At that time Baruch read the scroll that contained Jeremiah’s words...He read the scroll in the Temple of the LORD to all the people who were there...Baruch was in the room of Gemariah in the upper courtyard when he read from the scroll...That room was located at the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple...Gemariah was the son of Shaphan...Gemariah was a scribe in the Temple...A man named Micaiah heard all the messages from the LORD that Baruch read from the scroll. Micaiah was the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan...When Micaiah heard the messages from the scroll, he went down to the secretary’s room in the king’s palace...All the royal officials were sitting there in the king’s palace...These are the names of the officials: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah; all the other royal officials were there too...Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll...
King Jehoiakim sent Jehudi to get the scroll...Jehudi brought the scroll from the room of Elishama the scribe...Then Jehudi read the scroll to the king and all the servants who stood around the king...The time this happened was in the ninth month, so King Jehoiakim was sitting in the part of the palace used for winter...There was a fire burning in a small fireplace in front of the king...Jehudi began to read from the scroll...But after he would read two or three columns, King Jehoiakim would grab the scroll...Then he would cut those columns off the scroll with a small knife and throw them into the fireplace...Finally, the whole scroll was burned in the fire...And, when King Jehoiakim and his servants heard the message from the scroll, they were not afraid...They did not tear their clothes to show sorrow for doing wrong...
Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah tried to talk King Jehoiakim out of burning the scroll, but he would not listen to them...Instead King Jehoiakim commanded some men to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet...These men were Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel...But they could not find Baruch and Jeremiah, because the LORD had hidden them...King Jehoiakim burned the scroll on which Baruch had written all the words that Jeremiah had spoken to him...Then this message from the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Get another scroll...Write all the messages on it that were on the first scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned...Also tell King Jehoiakim of Judah that this is what the LORD says: ‘Jehoiakim, you burned that scroll...You said, “Why did Jeremiah write that the king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land and kill all the people and animals in it?”...So this is what the LORD says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: Jehoiakim’s descendants will not sit on David’s throne...When Jehoiakim dies, he will not get a king’s funeral, but his body will be thrown out on the ground...His body will be left out in the heat of the day and the cold frost of the night...I will punish Jehoiakim and his children, and I will punish his officials...I will do this because they are wicked...I will bring terrible disasters on them and on all those who live in Jerusalem and on the people from Judah...I will bring all these bad things on them, just as I warned them, because they have not listened to me.’”...Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe...As Jeremiah spoke, Baruch wrote on the scroll the same messages that were on the scroll that King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire...And many other words like those messages were added to the second scroll...