Jeremiah 36
36
Baruch Reads the Lord’s Messages
1During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king in Judah,#36:1 The fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign was 605 b.c. the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: 2“Get a scroll, and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message, right up to the present time. 3Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.”
4So Jeremiah sent for Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated all the prophecies that the Lord had given him, Baruch wrote them on a scroll. 5Then Jeremiah said to Baruch, “I am a prisoner here and unable to go to the Temple. 6So you go to the Temple on the next day of fasting, and read the messages from the Lord that I have had you write on this scroll. Read them so the people who are there from all over Judah will hear them. 7Perhaps even yet they will turn from their evil ways and ask the Lord’s forgiveness before it is too late. For the Lord has threatened them with his terrible anger.”
8Baruch did as Jeremiah told him and read these messages from the Lord to the people at the Temple. 9He did this on a day of sacred fasting held in late autumn,#36:9 Hebrew in the ninth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar (also in 36:22). The ninth month in the fifth year of Jehoiakim’s reign occurred within the months of November and December 604 b.c. Also see note on 1:3. during the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah. People from all over Judah had come to Jerusalem to attend the services at the Temple on that day. 10Baruch read Jeremiah’s words on the scroll to all the people. He stood in front of the Temple room of Gemariah, son of Shaphan the secretary. This room was just off the upper courtyard of the Temple, near the New Gate entrance.
11When Micaiah son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan heard the messages from the Lord, 12he went down to the secretary’s room in the palace where the administrative officials were meeting. Elishama the secretary was there, along with Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13When Micaiah told them about the messages Baruch was reading to the people, 14the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah and great-grandson of Cushi, to ask Baruch to come and read the messages to them, too. So Baruch took the scroll and went to them. 15“Sit down and read the scroll to us,” the officials said, and Baruch did as they requested.
16When they heard all the messages, they looked at one another in alarm. “We must tell the king what we have heard,” they said to Baruch. 17“But first, tell us how you got these messages. Did they come directly from Jeremiah?”
18So Baruch explained, “Jeremiah dictated them, and I wrote them down in ink, word for word, on this scroll.”
19“You and Jeremiah should both hide,” the officials told Baruch. “Don’t tell anyone where you are!” 20Then the officials left the scroll for safekeeping in the room of Elishama the secretary and went to tell the king what had happened.
King Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll
21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by. 22It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm. 23Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up. 24Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard. 25Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he wouldn’t listen.
26Then the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden them.
Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll
27After the king had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jeremiah’s words, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message. He said, 28“Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned. 29Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals. 30Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied—exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their sins. I will pour out on them and on all the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would not listen to my warnings.’”
32So Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to his secretary, Baruch. He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. Only this time he added much more!
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Jeremiah 36: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremiah 36
36
1 IN THE fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Take a scroll [of parchment] for a book and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the day I spoke to you in the days of [King] Josiah until this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, so that each one may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. [Jer. 18:7-10; 26:3.]
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote upon the scroll of the book all the words which Jeremiah dictated, [words] that the Lord had spoken to him.
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am [in hiding, virtually] restrained and shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.
6 Therefore you go, and on a day of fasting, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house, you shall read the words of the Lord which you have written on the scroll at my dictation. Also you shall read them in the hearing of all who come out of the cities of Judah.
7 It may be that they will make their supplication [for mercy] before the Lord, and each one will turn back from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.
8 And Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from [Jeremiah's] book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.
9 And in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast was proclaimed before the Lord for all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah.
10 Then Baruch read in the hearing of all the people the words of Jeremiah from the scroll of the book in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord's house.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord,
12 He went down to the king's house into the scribe's chamber, and behold, all the princes were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the [other] princes.
13 Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people.
14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people and come [to us]. So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.
15 And 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 one to another in fear and said to Baruch, We must surely tell the king of all these words.
17 And they asked Baruch, Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At [Jeremiah's] dictation?
18 Then Baruch answered them, He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
19 Then the princes said to Baruch, Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.
20 Then they went into the court to the king, but they [first] put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; then they reported all the words to the king.
21 So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and of all the princes who stood beside the king.
22 Now it was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and a fire was burning there before him in the brazier.
23 And [each time] when Jehudi had read three or four columns [of the scroll], he [King Jehoiakim] would cut them off with a penknife and cast them into the fire that was in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments–neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words.
25 Even though Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah tried to persuade the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.
27 Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch wrote at the dictation of Jeremiah, [and the Lord] said:
28 Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned.
29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says the Lord: You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon shall surely come and destroy this land and shall cut off man and beast from it?
30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no [heir] to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and to the frost by night.
31 And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them–but they would not hear.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and besides them many similar words were added.
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