Jeremiah 36

1This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2“Take a scroll and write on it every word that I have spoken to you about Israel, about Judah and about all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you in the days of Josiah until today. 3It may be that when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I intend to bring on them, every one of them will turn back from their evil way, and I will forgive their guilt and their sin.”

4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down on a scroll everything the LORD had spoken to him. 5Then Jeremiah gave Baruch these instructions: “I am barred; I cannot go into the house of the LORD. 6So you must go, and on a fast day read the words of the LORD from the scroll you wrote at my dictation, in the hearing of the people in the house of the LORD. Read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the LORD, and every one of them will turn back from their evil way. For the anger and fury that the LORD has declared against this people are great.” 8Baruch son of Neriah did everything the prophet Jeremiah had commanded him: he read the words of the LORD from the scroll in the house of the LORD.

9In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, a fast was proclaimed before the LORD for all the people in Jerusalem and for all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah. 10Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the house of the LORD, in the hearing of all the people. He read from the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, 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 read from the scroll, 12he went down to the king’s palace, to the secretary’s chamber. All the officials were sitting there: 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 reported to 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 you read to the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went 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 alarm and said to Baruch, “We must certainly report all these words to the king.” 17Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you come to write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” 18Baruch answered them, “He spoke all these words aloud to me, and I wrote them down in ink on the scroll.”

19Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah. Do not let anyone know where you are.” 20They went in to the king in the courtyard, having left the scroll for safekeeping in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. 21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he brought it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi read it to the king and to all the officials who stood in attendance on him. 22It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in his 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 away with a scribe’s knife and throw them on the fire in the brazier, until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. 24Yet neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all these words was afraid, and they did not tear their clothes. 25Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah even pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, but he refused to listen to them. 26Instead, the king ordered Jerahmeel, the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and the prophet Jeremiah. But the LORD hid them.

27The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll, and with it the words Baruch had written as Jeremiah dictated: 28“Take another scroll and write on it again all the words that were on the first scroll, the one that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned. 29And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you are to say, ‘The LORD says this: You burned this scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon is sure to come and destroy this land and wipe out both people and animals from it?”’

30Therefore the LORD says this about Jehoiakim king of Judah: No one of his line will sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be thrown out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31I will punish him and his descendants and his officials for their guilt. I will bring on them, on those who live in Jerusalem and on the people of Judah all the disaster I have pronounced against them, because they did not listen.”

32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and handed it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it every word of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire, and many other words like them were added.