Jeremiah 35:1–36:32
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2 “Go to the house of the aRechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the bchambers, and give them wine to drink.”
3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites,
4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the aman of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, bthe doorkeeper.
5 Then I set before the 1men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “aDrink wine!”
6 But they said, “We will not drink wine, for aJonadab the son of bRechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall cnot drink wine, you or your sons, forever.
7 ‘You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in atents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live bmany days in the land where you csojourn.’
8 “We have aobeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters,
9 nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we ado not have vineyard or field or seed.
10 “We have only adwelt in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that bJonadab our father commanded us.
11 “But when aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us bgo to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “aWill you not receive instruction by listening to My words?” declares the Lord.
14 “The awords of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you 1bagain and again; yet you have cnot listened to Me.
15 “Also I have sent to you all My aservants the prophets, sending them 1again and again, saying: ‘bTurn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and cdo not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will ddwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not einclined your ear or listened to Me.
16 ‘Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have aobserved the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’ ” ’
17 “Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, aI am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I bspoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’ ”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have aobeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you;
19 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab ashall not lack a man to bstand before Me 1always.” ’ ”
Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Temple
1 In the afourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 “Take a 1ascroll and write on it all the bwords which I have spoken to you concerning cIsrael and concerning Judah, and concerning all the dnations, from the eday I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.
3 “aPerhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will bturn from his evil way; then I will cforgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah called aBaruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a 1bscroll 2at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.
5 Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am 1arestricted; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.
6 “So you go and aread from the scroll which you have bwritten 1at my dictation the words of the Lord 2to the people in the Lord’s house on a cfast day. And also you shall read them 2to all the people of Judah who come from their cities.
7 “aPerhaps their supplication will 1come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for bgreat is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”
8 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, areading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
9 Now in the afifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the bninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who ccame from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a dfast before the Lord.
10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the achamber of bGemariah the son of Shaphan the cscribe, in the upper court, at the dentry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, to all the people.
11 Now when aMicaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord from the book,
12 he went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber. And behold, all the officials were sitting there—aElishama the scribe, and bDelaiah the son of Shemaiah, and cElnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.
13 Micaiah adeclared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book to the people.
14 Then all the officials sent aJehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah btook the scroll in his hand and went to them.
15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch aread it to them.
16 When they had heard all the words, they turned in afear one to another and said to Baruch, “We will surely breport all these words to the king.”
17 And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us, please, ahow did you write all these words? Was it 1at his dictation?”
18 Then Baruch said to them, “He adictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink on the book.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, ahide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”
20 So they went to the aking in the court, but they had deposited the scroll in the chamber of aElishama the scribe, and they reported all the words to the king.
21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi aread it to the king as well as to all the officials who stood beside the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in the awinter house in the bninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him.
23 When Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and athrew it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
24 Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were anot afraid, nor did they brend their garments.
25 Even though Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah apleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to aseize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the bLord hid them.
27 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had aburned the scroll and the words which bBaruch had written at the dictation of Jeremiah, saying,
28 “aTake again another scroll and write on it all the former words that were bon the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned.
29 “And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “You have aburned this scroll, saying, ‘bWhy have you written on it 1that the cking of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will make man and beast to cease from it?’ ”
30 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, “He shall have ano one to sit on the throne of David, and his bdead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.
31 “I will also apunish him and his 1descendants and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bbring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the calamity that I have declared to them—but they did not listen.” ’ ”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the scribe, and he awrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many 1similar words were added to them.