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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Jeremiah 36: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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