THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

 

Jeremiah Chapter 36

1 ¶ During the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 Take a scroll, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, during the reign of Josiah, to this day.

3 Perhaps the house of Judah will take to heart all the evil that I plan to unleash on them; so that every man will return from his evil way; that I might forgive their iniquity and their sin.

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and as Jeremiah dictated Baruch wrote down on a scroll all the words that the LORD had spoken to him.

5 And Jeremiah gave Baruch orders, saying, I am under restriction; and cannot go into the house of the LORD:

6 Therefore you go into the LORD’S house on the day of fasting, and read to the people the words of the LORD, from the scroll which you have written as I dictated: and also read them to all the people of Judah who come up from their towns.

7 Perhaps they will humbly plead before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way: for the anger and the fury that the LORD has threatened to unleash against this people is great.

8 So Baruch the son of Neriah did exactly as Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading the words of the LORD from the book in the LORD’S house.

9 ¶ Then during the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people of Jerusalem, and all the people that came up from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem, were called to a fast before the LORD.

10 At that time Baruch read to the people all the words of Jeremiah from the book in the house of the LORD, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance of the new gate to the LORD’S house.

11 After Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD read from the scroll,

12 He then went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, saw that all the officials were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all other officials.

13 Then Michaiah told them everything that he had heard, when Baruch read the book to the people.

14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Bring in your hand the roll from which you have read to the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll, and went to them.

15 And they said to him, Now sit down, and read it to us. So Baruch read it as they listened.

16 Then, after they had heard all the words, they turned to one another in alarm, and said to Baruch, We must tell the king all these words.

17 And they questioned Baruch, saying, Now tell us, How did you write all these words, that he had spoken?

18 Then Baruch answered, He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.

19 Then the princes said to Baruch, You and Jeremiah must hide; and not let anyone know where you are.

20 ¶ Then, after they placed the roll in the room of Elishama the scribe, they went in to the king in the court and reported everything to the king.

21 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the roll: and he took it from the room of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king, and all the officials who stood beside the king.

22 Now it was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house: and there was a fire burning in a brazier before him.

23 And it happened, that each time Jehudi had read three or four columns, he cut it off with a penknife, and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until the entire roll had been consumed by the fire that was in the brazier.

24 Yet neither the king, nor any of his attendants who heard all these words were afraid, or tore their garments,.

25 However Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the roll: but he would not listen to them.

26 But the king ordered Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.

27 Then, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote as Jeremiah dictated, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

28 Take another roll, and write in it all the words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

29 And say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, This is what the LORD says; You have burned this roll, saying, Why have you written on it, The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cut off man and beast from it?

30 Therefore the LORD says this about 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 to the frost by night.

31 And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they would not hear.

32 Then Jeremiah took another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote in it as Jeremiah dictated all the words that were in the book that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and in addition added many similar words.