Jeremiah 36

1In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh:

2“Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you in the days of Josiah until today.

3Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each of them will turn from his evil way, and I will forgive their guilt and their sin.”

4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated all the words that Yahweh had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on a scroll.

5Then Jeremiah instructed Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot go into the house of Yahweh.

6So you go, and on a day of fasting read the words of Yahweh from the scroll that you have written at my dictation, in the hearing of the people in the house of Yahweh. Read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

7Perhaps their plea for mercy will come before Yahweh, and each of them will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and fury that Yahweh has pronounced against this people.”

8Baruch son of Neriah did everything that Jeremiah the prophet instructed him; he read the words of Yahweh from the scroll in the house of Yahweh.

9In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who had come from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before Yahweh.

10Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the house of Yahweh, in the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of Yahweh.

11When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the scroll,

12he went down to the secretary’s room in the king’s palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

13Micaiah told them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.

14Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch to say, “Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.

15They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.

16When they heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, “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, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

19Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”

20After they had put the scroll away in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported all the words to him.

21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi read it to the king and to all the officials standing beside the king.

22It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, with a fire burning in the brazier in front of him.

23Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire in the brazier.

24Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, and they did not tear their clothes.

25Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

26Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But Yahweh had hidden them.

27After the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah:

28“Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.

29And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you are to say, ‘This is what Yahweh says: You burned this scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out both people and animals from it?”

30Therefore this is what Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be thrown out to the heat by day and the frost by night.

31I will punish him and his descendants and his servants for their guilt. I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on the people of Judah all the disaster that I pronounced against them, because they would not listen.’”

32So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and at Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.