Jeremiah 36:1–26

The Scroll Read in the Temple

36Now it came to pass in the ^afourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ²“Take a ^bscroll of a book and ^cwrite on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against ^dall the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of ^eJosiah even to this day. ³It ^fmay be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may ^gturn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴Then Jeremiah ^hcalled Baruch the son of Neriah; and ⁱBaruch wrote on a scroll of a book, ¹at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. ⁵And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord. ⁶You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written ²at my instruction, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house on ^jthe day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. ⁷It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” ⁸And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

⁹Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. ¹⁰Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the ^kentry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the ³hearing of all the people.

The Scroll Read in the Palace

¹¹When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book, ¹²he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—^lElishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, ^mElnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. ¹³Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi 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 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 now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.

¹⁶Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” ¹⁷And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—⁴at his instruction?”

¹⁸So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”

¹⁹Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”

The King Destroys Jeremiah’s Scroll

²⁰And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king. ²¹So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. ²²Now the king was sitting in ⁿthe winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. ²³And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. ²⁴Yet they were ^onot afraid, nor did they ^ptear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. ²⁵Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. ²⁶And the king commanded Jerahmeel ⁵the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.