Jeremiah 36
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 about Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.
3 Perhaps the people of Judah will hear about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their guilt and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll, as Jeremiah dictated, all the words the LORD had spoken to him.
5 Jeremiah gave Baruch this instruction: “I am restricted; I cannot go to the house of the LORD.
6 You go and read from the scroll you wrote as I dictated, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people at the house of the LORD on a fast day. Read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come from their towns.
7 Perhaps their plea will come before the LORD, and each will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury the LORD has spoken against this people are great.”
8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything the prophet Jeremiah had instructed him to do: he read the words of the LORD from the scroll at the house of the LORD.
9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast was proclaimed before the LORD for all the people in Jerusalem and for all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem.
10 Baruch read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll at the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, in the upper courtyard, at the entrance to the New Gate of the house of the LORD, in the hearing of all the people.
11 Micaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll.
12 He went down to the king’s house, to the secretary’s chamber. All the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.
13 Micaiah told them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.
14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch with this message: “Take in your hand the scroll you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went to them.
15 They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
16 When they had heard all the words, they looked at one another in fear and said to Baruch, “We must tell the king all these words.”
17 Then they asked Baruch, “Please tell us: how did you write all these words as he dictated them?”
18 Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in the scroll with ink.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah. Let no one know where you are.”
20 They went to the king in the courtyard, after placing the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and reported all the words to the king.
21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials standing beside the king.
22 The king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier in front of him.
23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut them off with the secretary’s knife and threw them into the fire in the brazier, until the whole scroll was consumed in the fire.
24 Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid or tore their clothes.
25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
26 The king ordered Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD hid them.
27 After the king had burned the scroll with the words Baruch had written as Jeremiah dictated, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the earlier words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, say: ‘This is what the LORD says: You burned this scroll and asked, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come, destroy this land, and wipe out its people and animals?”’
30 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse will be thrown out, exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.
31 I will punish him, his descendants, and his servants for their guilt. I will bring on them, on the people living in Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster I spoke against them, because they did not listen.”’
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah the secretary, who wrote on it, as Jeremiah dictated, all the words from the scroll Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. Many other words like them were added as well.
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