Jeremiah 36
36
King Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's First Scroll
1 #
2 K 24.1; 2 Ch 36.5-7; Dn 1.1,2. During the fourth year that Jehoiakim#36.1 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. son of Josiah#36.1 Josiah: See the note at 3.6. was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, 2since the time Josiah was king, I have been speaking to you about Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Now, get a scroll#36.2 scroll: See the note at 30.1,2. and write down everything I have told you, 3then read it to the people of Judah. Maybe they will stop sinning when they hear what terrible things I plan for them. And if they turn back to me, I will forgive them.”
4I sent for Baruch son of Neriah and asked him to help me. I repeated everything the Lord had told me, and Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. 5Then I said,
Baruch, the officials refuse to let me go into the Lord's temple, 6so you must go instead. Wait for the next holy day when the people of Judah come to the temple to pray and to go without eating.#36.6 to go without eating: As a way of asking for God's help. Then take this scroll to the temple and read it aloud. 7The Lord is furious, and if the people hear how he is going to punish them, maybe they will ask to be forgiven.
8-10In the ninth month#36.8-10 ninth month: Chislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-November to mid-December. of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king, the leaders set a day when everyone who lived in Jerusalem or who was visiting there had to pray and go without eating. So Baruch took the scroll to the upper courtyard of the temple. He went over to the side of the courtyard and stood in a covered area near New Gate, where he read the scroll aloud.
This covered area belonged to Gemariah,#36.8-10 Gemariah: Hebrew “Gemariah son of Shaphan”; Gemariah's brother Ahikam had earlier protected Jeremiah (see 26.20-24). one of the king's highest officials. 11Gemariah's son Micaiah was there and heard Baruch read what the Lord had said. 12When Baruch finished reading, Micaiah went down to the palace. His father Gemariah was in the officials' room, meeting with the rest of the king's officials, including Elishama, Delaiah, Elnathan, and Zedekiah.#36.12 Delaiah, Elnathan, and Zedekiah: Hebrew “Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, and Zedekiah son of Hananiah.” 13Micaiah told them what he had heard Baruch read to the people. 14Then the officials sent Jehudi and Shelemiah#36.14 Jehudi and Shelemiah: Hebrew “Jehudi son of Nethaniah and Shelemiah son of Cushi.” to tell Baruch, “Bring us that scroll.”
When Baruch arrived with the scroll, 15the officials said, “Please sit down and read it to us,” which he did. 16After they heard what was written on the scroll, they were worried and said to each other, “The king needs to hear this!” Turning to Baruch, they asked, 17“Did someone tell you what to write on this scroll?”
18“Yes, Jeremiah did,” Baruch replied. “I wrote down just what he told me.”
19The officials said, “You and Jeremiah must go into hiding, and don't tell anyone where you are going.”
20-22The officials put the scroll in Elishama's room and went to see the king, who was in one of the rooms where he lived and worked during the winter. It was the ninth month#36.20-22 ninth month: See the note at 36.8-10. of the year, so there was a fire burning in the fireplace,#36.20-22 fireplace: Probably a large metal or clay pot on a movable stand, with the fire burning inside. and the king was sitting nearby. After the officials told the king about the scroll, he sent Jehudi to get it. Then Jehudi started reading the scroll to the king and his officials. 23-25But every time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would tell him to cut them off with his penknife and throw them in the fire. Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he ignored them, and soon there was nothing left of it.
The king and his servants listened to what was written on the scroll, but they were not the least bit afraid, and they did not tear their clothes in sorrow.#36.23-25 they did not tear their clothes in sorrow: Such actions would have shown that they were sorry for disobeying the Lord and were turning back to him.
26The king told his son Jerahmeel to take Seraiah and Shelemiah#36.26 Seraiah and Shelemiah: Hebrew “Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel.” and to go arrest Baruch and me.#36.26 me: Jeremiah. But the Lord kept them from finding us.
Jeremiah's Second Scroll
27I had told Baruch what to write on that first scroll,#36.27 scroll: See the note at 30.1,2. but King Jehoiakim#36.27 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. had burned it. So the Lord told me 28to get another scroll and write down everything that had been on the first one. 29Then he told me to say to King Jehoiakim:
Not only did you burn Jeremiah's scroll, you had the nerve to ask why he had written that the king of Babylonia would attack and ruin the land, killing all the people and even the animals. 30So I, the Lord, promise that you will be killed and your body thrown out on the ground. The sun will beat down on it during the day, and the frost will settle on it at night. And none of your descendants will ever be king of Judah. 31You, your children, and your servants are evil, and I will punish everyone of you. I warned you and the people of Judah and Jerusalem that I would bring disaster, but none of you have listened. So now you are doomed!
32After the Lord finished speaking to me, I got another scroll and gave it to Baruch. Then I told him what to write, so this second scroll would contain even more than was on the scroll Jehoiakim had burned.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 36
36
Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah’s scroll
1In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.’
4So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5Then Jeremiah told Baruch, ‘I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. 6So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.’
8Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. 9In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. 10From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.
11When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, 14all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, ‘Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.’ So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. 15They said to him, ‘Sit down, please, and read it to us.’
So Baruch read it to them. 16When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, ‘We must report all these words to the king.’ 17Then they asked Baruch, ‘Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?’
18‘Yes,’ Baruch replied, ‘he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.’
19Then the officials said to Baruch, ‘You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.’
20After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. 21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. 22It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the brazier in front of him. 23Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the brazier, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
27After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28‘Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. 29Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, “This is what the Lord says: you burned that scroll and said, ‘Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?’ 30Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: he will have no-one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.” ’
32So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
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