Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Temple
1 In 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 of a book and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster which I intend to do to them, that they may each return from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all words of the LORD, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book. 5 Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I cannot go into the house of the LORD. 6 Therefore you go and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, the words of the LORD, in the ears of the people in the house of the LORD on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD and will each return from his evil way, for the LORD has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”
8 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the house of the LORD.
9 Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a day of fasting before the LORD. 10 Then Baruch read 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 upper court, at the entry of the new gate of the house of the LORD, in the ears of all the people.
Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the King’s House
11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the LORD from the book, 12 he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the leaders. 13 Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
14 Therefore all the leaders sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come.”
So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 They said to him, “Sit down now and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
16 Now when they had heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” 17 They asked Baruch, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words from his mouth?”
18 Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19 Then the leaders said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go hide. Do not let anyone know where you are.”
King Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll
20 They went to the king, at the courtyard, but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. Then they reported all the words in the hearing of the king.
21 So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the leaders who stood beside the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. 23 When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
24 The king and his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and did not tear their garments. 25 Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll, but he would not listen to them.
26 The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son 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.
Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll
27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28 “Take again another scroll and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.
29 Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say that this is what the LORD says, ‘You have burned this scroll, saying: Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and will cause to cease from there man and animal?’
30 Therefore the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘He will have no one to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost. 31 I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they did not listen.’ ”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.