JeremiahChapter 36

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¹In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah. ²"Take a scroll. Write on it all the words I have spoken to you about Israel, Judah, and all the nations. Write everything from the day I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, until today. ³Maybe the people of Judah will hear about all the trouble I plan to bring on them, and each of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their wrongs and their sin. ⁴So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah. Jeremiah spoke all the words the LORD had told him. As he spoke, Baruch wrote them on a scroll. ⁵Then Jeremiah gave Baruch an order. "I am kept away. I can't go into the house of the LORD. ⁶So you must go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting. Read the people the words of the LORD from the scroll. You wrote these words as I spoke them. Read them out loud to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. ⁷Maybe they will bring their prayer to the LORD. Maybe each one will turn from his evil way. For the LORD has warned that his anger and fury against this people are great." ⁸So Baruch son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet told him. He read the words of the LORD from the scroll in the house of the LORD. ⁹This was in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah. A time of fasting before the LORD was announced. It was for all the people of Jerusalem. It was also for all who had come there from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll so all the people could hear. He read from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe. This room was in the upper courtyard, at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the LORD. ¹¹Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll. ¹²Then he went down to the scribe's room in the king's palace. All the officials were sitting there. Elishama the scribe was there. So were 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. Baruch had read them from the scroll for the people to hear. ¹⁴Then all the officials sent Jehudi to Baruch. Jehudi was the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi. They said, "Bring the scroll you read to the people, and come here." So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and went to them. ¹⁵"Please sit down," they said. "Read it to us." So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶When they heard all these words, they looked at one another in fear. They said to Baruch, "We must surely tell the king all these words." ¹⁷Then they asked Baruch, "Tell us now. How did you write all these words? Did Jeremiah say them to you?" ¹⁸"Yes, he said them," Baruch answered. "He spoke all these words to me. I wrote them in ink on the scroll." ¹⁹Then the officials said to Baruch, "You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't tell anyone where you are." ²⁰So the officials put the scroll away in the room of Elishama the scribe. Then they went to the king in the courtyard. They told the king everything. ²¹The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi took it from the room of Elishama the scribe. He read it out loud to the king and to all the officials standing beside him. ²²It was the ninth month. So the king was sitting in his winter house. A fire was burning in front of him. ²³Each time Jehudi read three or four columns, Jehoiakim cut them off with a scribe's knife. He threw them into the fire pot. He did this until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ²⁴The king and his servants heard all these words. But they were not afraid. They did not tear their clothes. ²⁵Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll. But he would not listen to them. ²⁶Instead, the king gave orders to Jerahmeel, one of the king's sons. He also ordered Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel. They were to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them. ²⁷The king burned the scroll with the words Baruch wrote as Jeremiah spoke them. After that, the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah. ²⁸"Take another scroll. Write on it the very same words that were on the first scroll. Jehoiakim king of Judah burned that one. ²⁹Tell Jehoiakim king of Judah that this is what the LORD says: You burned the scroll. You said, 'Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon will surely come? Why did you say he will destroy this land and wipe out its people and animals?' ³⁰So this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne. His dead body will be thrown out. It will lie in the heat of the day and the frost of the night. ³¹I will punish him and his children and his servants for their sin. I will bring on them all the trouble I warned them about. It will also fall on the people of Jerusalem and the men of Judah. I warned them, but they did not listen." ³²So Jeremiah took another scroll. He gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe. Jeremiah spoke, and Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many more words like them were added.