Jeremiah 35:1–36:32

The Rekabites

35 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakimc son of Josiah king of Judah: 2 “Go to the Rekabited family and invite them to come to one of the side roomse of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.”

3 So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites. 4 I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God.f It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallumg the doorkeeper.h 5 Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

6 But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadaba i son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.j 7 Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents.k Then you will live a long time in the landl where you are nomads.’ 8 We have obeyed everything our forefatherm Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9 or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.n 10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invadedo this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalemp to escape the Babylonianb and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tellq the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lessonr and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. 14 ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command.s But I have spoken to you again and again,t yet you have not obeyedu me. 15 Again and again I sent all my servants the prophetsv to you. They said, “Each of you must turnw from your wicked ways and reformx your actions; do not follow other godsy to serve them. Then you will live in the landz I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listeneda to me. 16 The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefatherb gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’

17 “Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disasterc I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen;d I called to them, but they did not answer.’ ”e

18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefatherf Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ 19 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never failg to have a descendant to serveh me.’ ”

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakimi son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Take a scrollj and write on it all the wordsk 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 Josiahl till now. 3 Perhapsm when the people of Judah hearn about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turno from their wicked ways; then I will forgivep their wickedness and their sin.”

4 So Jeremiah called Baruchq son of Neriah,r and while Jeremiah dictateds all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.t 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 fastingu and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated.v Read them to all the people of Judahw who come in from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will bring their petitionx before the Lord and will each turny from their wicked ways, for the angerz 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 montha of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fastingb 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 Gemariahc son of Shaphand the secretary,e which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gatef 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’sg room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathanh son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.i 13 After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, 14 all the officials sent Jehudij son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scrollk 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 fearl 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 writem all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

18 “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictatedn all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

19 Then the officialso said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide.p 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 Jehudiq to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the kingr and all the officials standing beside him. 22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment,s with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll,t 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.u 24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear,v nor did they tear their clothes.w 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiahx and Gemariahy 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 arrestz Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hiddena them.

27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation,b the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scrollc 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 itd both man and beast?”e 30 Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakimf king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown outg and exposedh to the heat by day and the frost by night.i 31 I will punish him and his childrenj and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disasterk I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.l’ ”

32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated,m Baruch wroten on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burnedo in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.