Jeremiah 36–37

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

36In the ^ffourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Take ^ga scroll and ^hwrite on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and ⁱJudah ^jand all the nations, ^kfrom the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. ^3lIt may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, ^mso that every one may turn from his evil way, and ⁿthat I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴Then Jeremiah called ^oBaruch the son of Neriah, and ^oBaruch wrote on ^ga scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. ⁵And Jeremiah ordered ^oBaruch, saying, ^p“I am banned from going to the house of the Lord, ⁶so you are to go, and ^qon a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the Lord’s house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. ^7lIt may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, ^mand that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” ⁸And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

^9rIn the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^sin the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem ^tproclaimed a fast before the Lord. ¹⁰Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the Lord, in ^uthe chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

¹¹When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of ^vShaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, ¹²he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and ^wall the officials were sitting there: ^xElishama the secretary, ^yDelaiah the son of Shemaiah, ^yElnathan ^zthe son of Achbor, ^yGemariah the son of ^zShaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. ¹³And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of ^aShelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. ¹⁵And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, ^b“We must report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” ¹⁸Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, ^cwhile I wrote them with ink on the scroll.” ¹⁹Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”

²⁰So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in ^dthe chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. ²¹Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. ²²It was ^ethe ninth month, and the king was sitting in ^fthe winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. ²³As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. ²⁴Yet ^gneither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, ^hnor did they tear their garments. ²⁵Even when ⁱElnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^jurged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶And the king commanded Jerahmeel the ^kking’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and ^lShelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize ^mBaruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

²⁷Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁸“Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, ⁿ“Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” ³⁰Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ^oHe shall have none ^pto sit on the throne of David, ^qand his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. ^31rAnd I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’ ”

³²Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to ^sBaruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who ^twrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

37^uZedekiah the son of Josiah, ^vwhom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^wConiah the son of Jehoiakim. ^2xBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

³King Zedekiah sent ^yJehucal the son of ^zShelemiah, and ^aZephaniah the priest, the son of ^bMaaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please ^cpray for us to the Lord our God.” ^4dNow Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, ^efor he had not yet been put in prison. ^5fThe army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when ^gthe Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, ^hthey withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷“Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who ⁱsent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, ^jPharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to ^kreturn to Egypt, to its own land. ⁸And ^lthe Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^lThey shall capture it and burn it with fire. ⁹Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. ^10mFor even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^lburn this city with fire.’ ”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹Now when ⁿthe Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, ¹²Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to ^othe land of Benjamin ^pto receive his portion there ^qamong the people. ¹³When he was at ^rthe Benjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of ^sShelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ^t“You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” ¹⁴And Jeremiah said, “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to ^uthe officials. ¹⁵And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him ^vand imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.

^16wWhen Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, ¹⁷King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him ^xsecretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, ^y“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, ^vthat you have put me in prison? ^19zWhere are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? ²⁰Now hear, please, O my lord the king: ^alet my humble plea come before you and ^bdo not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there.” ²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to ^cthe court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, ^duntil all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in ^cthe court of the guard.