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36
1 This message from the Lord came to Jeremiah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2 Get a scroll and write down everything I've told you condemning Israel, Judah, and all the other nations, from the time I first spoke to you during the reign of Josiah right up till now. 3 Maybe when the people of Judah hear about all the disasters I plan to bring down on them, everyone will stop their evil ways. Then I will forgive their guilt and sin.
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah to come, and while Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down on a scroll everything that the Lord had told Jeremiah. 5 Then Jeremiah gave Baruch these instructions: “I'm a prisoner here so I can't go into the Lord's Temple. 6 So you have to go to the Lord's Temple on a day when people are fasting, and read to them the Lord's messages from the scroll I dictated to you. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7 Maybe they will come and ask the Lord for forgiveness, and all of them will stop their evil ways, for the Lord is threatening terrible anger against them.”
8 Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what Jeremiah the prophet had told him to do. He went and read the Lord's message from the scroll in the Temple.
9 This is how it happened.*Supplied for clarity. A fast to honor the Lord was declared involving all the people of Jerusalem and everyone who had come there from the towns of Judah. This was in the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah. 10 Baruch read from the scroll what Jeremiah had dictated so that everyone could hear. He read it from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe. This was in the upper Temple courtyard at the New Gate entrance.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the Lord's messages read from the scroll, 12 he went down to the royal secretary's room in the king's palace, where all the officials had gathered. Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there. 13 Micaiah gave them a report of everything he'd heard Baruch read from the scroll to the people.
14 The officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to summon Baruch, telling him, “Bring the scroll that you read to the people, and come here.” So Baruch went to see them taking the scroll with him.
15 “Please sit down and read it to us,” they said. So Baruch read it to them.
16 After they'd heard everything, they were frightened and looked at each other. They said to Baruch, “We've got to tell the king about all this.”
17 Then they asked Baruch, “Now tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”
18 “Yes, he dictated it,” Baruch replied. “I wrote down in ink on the scroll everything he told me.”
19 The officials told Baruch, “You and Jeremiah are going to have to hide. Don't tell anyone where you are.”
20 Then the officials went to see the king in the courtyard. They had kept the scroll safe in Elishama the secretary's room while they gave a full report to the king.
21 The king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll. He went and got it from Elishama the secretary's room. Then Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who were there standing next to him.
22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in front of a fire in his winter quarters. 23 Whenever Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, Jehoiakim would chop them off with a scribe's knife and toss them into the fire. Eventually the whole scroll was completely burned up.
24 Despite hearing all these messages, the king and his attendants weren't frightened and didn't tear their clothes in remorse. 25 Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them. 26 In fact the king ordered Jerahmeel, one of the princes,†“One of the princes”: literally, “a son of the king,” but Jehoiakim would have been too young to have had a grown son. as well as Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to go and arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord hid them.
27 After the king burned the scroll Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch, a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 Get another scroll and write everything out that was on the first scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
29 Regarding Jehoiakim king of Judah announce that this is what the Lord says: You have burned the scroll and asked, “Why did you write that the king of Babylon is going to come and destroy this country and kill all its people and animals?” 30 So this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He won't have anyone to succeed him as king, sitting on David's throne. His body will be thrown out to lie in the heat of the day and the cold of the night. 31 I'm going to punish him and his descendants and officials for their sins. I will bring down on them and on the people living in Jerusalem and Judah, all the disasters I warned them about but they refused to listen.
32 Jeremiah got another scroll and gave it to Baruch. Jeremiah dictated everything that was in the scroll that Jehoiakim had burned in the fire and Baruch wrote it down. Even more messages of a similar kind were added.

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*36:9 Supplied for clarity.

†36:26 “One of the princes”: literally, “a son of the king,” but Jehoiakim would have been too young to have had a grown son.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher