Old Testament

Jeremiah 36
Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll
361In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, concerning Judah and all the other nations, from the day I began speaking to you in the days of Josiah until now. 3Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning for them, each of them will turn from his evil ways. Then I will forgive their guilt and their sin.
4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah. While Jeremiah dictated all the words that the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5Then Jeremiah gave an order to Baruch, saying, “I am restricted from going into the House of the Lord, 6so you will have to go. Read from the scroll you have written at my dictation. Read it in the hearing of all the people of Judah who have come from their cities on a day of fasting. 7Perhaps they will make a request to the Lord, and each of them will turn from his evil ways, for the Lord has planned great anger and wrath against this people.”
8Baruch son of Neriah did everything that Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him. He read the words of the Lord from the scroll in the House of the Lord.
9Later, in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people of Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah proclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the House of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people. This was at the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the House of the Lord.
11When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12he went into the secretary's room in the king's palace. All the officials happened to be sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. 14Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to tell Baruch, “Bring the scroll you have read in the hearing of the people, and come here.”
So Baruch son of Neriah brought the scroll in his hand and went to them. 15They said, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
16When they had heard everything, they turned to one another in fear. They said to Baruch, “We have to report all of these things to the king.” 17They asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all of this? Did Jeremiah dictate this to you?”
18Baruch answered, “He dictated[] all of these things to me, and I wrote them with ink on the scroll.”
19Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go and hide. Do not let anyone know where you are.”
20They put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, and then they went to the king in the court. They repeated all of these words to the king. 21Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. After he took it from the room of Elishama the secretary, Jehudi read it to the king in the hearing of all the officials who stood beside the king. 22Now the king was sitting in the winter house (it was the ninth month),[] and there was a metal heating pan with a fire of burning coals in front of him. 23Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king would cut it off with a scribe's knife and throw it into the fire until the entire scroll was burned up in the fire. 24Neither the king nor his attendants who heard all these words were afraid. They did not tear their clothing. 25Even when Elnathan and Delaiah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26Instead, the king commanded Jerahme'el the king's son, along with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abde'el to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord hid them.
27After the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
28Take another scroll, and write all the earlier words on it that were on the first scroll, the one that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
29Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, say: This is what the Lord says. You yourself have burned this scroll. You asked, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy the land, and cut off both men and animals.” 30That is why the Lord says this about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne. His dead body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their guilt. I will bring on them and on everyone who lives in Jerusalem and the men of Judah every disaster I have pronounced against them, because they did not listen.
32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to his scribe Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote on it all the same words that had been on the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Footnotes

  • 36:18 Literally he said from his mouth
  • 36:22 That is, the month of Kislev, late November/early December