²Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the words that I have spoken to thee against Israel and Juda, and against all the nations from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of Josias even to this day.

³If so be, when the house of Juda shall hear all the evils that I purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his wicked way: and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin.

⁴So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Nerias: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to him, upon the roll of a book.

⁵And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot go into the house of the Lord.

⁶Go thou in therefore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the hearing of all Juda that come out of their cities:

⁷If so be they may present their supplication before the Lord, and may return every one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and indignation which the Lord hath pronounced against this people.

⁸And Baruch the son of Nerias did according to all that Jeremias the prophet,had commanded him, reading out of the volume the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord.

⁹And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that were come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.

¹⁰And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremias in the house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.

¹¹And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord,

¹²He went down into the king’s house to the secretary’s chamber: and behold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dalaias the son of Semeias, and Elnathan the son of Achobor, and Gamarias the son of Saphan, and Sedecias the son of Hananias, and all the princes.

¹³And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read out of the volume in the hearing of the people.

¹⁴Therefore all the princes sent Judi the son of Nathanias, the son of Selemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, saying: Take in thy hand the volume in which thou hast read in the hearing of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Nerias took the volume in his hand, and came to them.

¹⁵And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our hearing. And Baruch read in their hearing.

¹⁶And when they had heard all the words, they looked upon one another with astonishment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the king all these words.

¹⁷And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all these words from his mouth.

¹⁸And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pronounced all these words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink.

¹⁹And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.

²⁰And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up the volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words in the hearing of the king.

²¹And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.

²²Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and there was a hearth before him full of burning coals.

²³And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that was upon the hearth, till all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth.

²⁴And the king and all his servants that heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.

²⁵But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king, not to burn the book: and he heard them not.

²⁶And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch the scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.

²⁷And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after that the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremias, saying:

²⁸Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda both burnt.

²⁹And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

³⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.

³¹And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they have not heard.

³²And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with fire: and there were added besides many more words than had been before.

Chapter 37

Now king Sedecias the son of Josias reigned instead of Jechonias the son of Joakim: whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon made king in the land of Juda.

²But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land did obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

³And king Sedecias sent Juchal the son of Selemias, and Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, saying: Pray to the Lord our God for us.

⁴Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the people: for they had not as yet cast him into prison. And the army of Pharao was come out of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, hearing these tidings, departed from Jerusalem.

⁵And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, saying:

⁶Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Juda, who sent you to inquire of me: Behold the army of Pharao, which is come forth to help you, shall return into their own land, into Egypt.

⁷And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.

⁸Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not your souls, saying: The Chaldeans shall surely depart and go away from us: for they shall not go away.

⁹But if you should even beat all the army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there should be left of them some wounded men: they shall rise up, every man from his heart, and burn this city with fire.

¹⁰Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem, because of Pharao’s army,

¹¹Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin: and to divide a possession there in the presence of the citizens,

¹²And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the gate, who was there in his turn, was one named Jerias, the son of Selemias, the son of Hananias: and he took hold of Jeremias the prophet, saying: Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans.

¹³And Jeremias answered: It is not so, I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Jerias took Jeremias and brought him to the princes.

¹⁴Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremias, and they beat him, and cast him into the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for he was chief over the prison.

¹⁵So Jeremias went into the house of the prison, and into the dungeon: and Jeremias remained there many days.

¹⁶Then Sedecias the king, sending, took him: and asked him secretly in his house, and said: Is there, thinkest thou, any word from the Lord? And Jeremias said. There is. And he said: Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.

¹⁷And Jeremias said to king Sedecias: In what have I offended against thee, or thy servants, or thy people, that thou hast cast me into prison?

¹⁸Where are your prophets that prophesied to you, and said: The king of Babylon shall not come against you, and against this land?

¹⁹Now therefore hear, I beseech thee, my lord the king: let my petition be accepted in thy sight: and send me not back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

²⁰Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were spent: and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.

Read in Logos

Public Domain