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 And it happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah: it happened that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
2 "Take the volume of a book, and you shall write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah, and against all the nations, from the day when I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.
3 Perhaps it may be that the house of Judah, upon hearing all the evils that I have decided to do to them, may return, each one from his wicked way, and then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin."
4 Therefore, Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken to him, in the volume of a book.
5 And Jeremiah instructed Baruch, saying: "I am confined, and so I am unable to enter into the house of the Lord.
6 Therefore, you shall enter and read from the volume, in which you have written from my mouth the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the house of the Lord on the day of the fast. Moreover, you shall also read them in the hearing of all those of Judah who are arriving from their cities.
7 Perhaps it may happen that they pray in the sight of the Lord, and each one may return from his wicked way. For great is the fury and indignation that the Lord has declared against this people."
8 And Baruch, the son of Neriah, acted in accord with all that Jeremiah, the prophet, had instructed him, reading from the volume the words of the Lord, in the house of the Lord.
9 And it happened that, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, they proclaimed a fast, in the sight of the Lord, to all the people in Jerusalem, and to the entire multitude which had flowed together, from the cities of Judah, into Jerusalem.
10 And Baruch read from the volume the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, at the treasury of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper vestibule, at the entrance to the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.
11 And when Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord from the book,
12 he descended to the house of the king, to the treasury of the scribe. And behold, all the leaders were sitting there: Elishama, the scribe, and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the leaders.
13 And Micaiah announced to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the volume to the ears of the people.
14 And so, 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 volume, from which you have read in the hearing of the people, and come." Therefore, Baruch, the son of Neriah, took the volume in his hand, and he went to them.
15 And they said to him, "Sit and read these things in our hearing." And Baruch read in their hearing.
16 Therefore, when they had heard all the words, each one looked at his neighbor in astonishment, and they said to Baruch: "We ought to report all these words to the king."
17 And they questioned him, saying, "Describe to us how you wrote all these words from his mouth."
18 Then Baruch said to them: "He was speaking with his mouth, as if reading to me. And I wrote in a volume with ink."
19 And the leaders said to Baruch: "Go away and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are."
20 And they entered to the king, in the court. Furthermore, they stored the volume in the treasury of Elishama, the scribe. And they announced all the words in the hearing of the king.
21 And the king sent Jehudi to take the volume. And bringing it from the treasury of Elishama, the scribe, he read it in the hearing of the king and of all the leaders who were standing around the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house, in the ninth month. And there was a hearth placed before him, filled with burning coals.
23 And when Jehudi had read three or four pages, he cut it with a small knife, and he threw it into the fire which was upon the hearth, until the entire volume was consumed by the fire which was upon the hearth.
24 And the king and all his servants, who had heard all these words, were not afraid, and they did not rend their garments.
25 Yet truly, Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah contradicted the king, so that he might not burn the book. But he did not listen to them.
26 And the king instructed Jerahmeel, the son of Amelech, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, so that they would apprehend Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah, the prophet. But the Lord concealed them.
27 And after the king had burned the volume and the words that Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, saying:
28 "Again, take another volume and write in it all the former words, which were in the first volume that Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burned.
29 And you shall say to Jehoiakim, the king of Judah: Thus says the Lord: You have burned that volume, saying: 'Why have you written in it, announcing that the king of Babylon will advance quickly, and will devastate this land, and will cause both man and beast to cease from it?'
30 Because of this, thus says the Lord against Jehoiakim, the king of Judah: There will be, from him, no one who may 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 visit against him, and against his offspring, and against his servants for their iniquities. And I will lead over them, and over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and over the men of Judah, all the evil that I have declared against them, for they have not listened."
32 Then Jeremiah took up another volume, and he gave it to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the scribe, who wrote in it, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the book that Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had burned with fire. And moreover, there were many more words added than there had been before.
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