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: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 36
36
The Scroll Read in the Temple
1Now it came to pass in the #2 Kin. 24:1; 2 Chr. 36:5–7; Jer. 25:1, 3; 45:1; Dan. 1:1fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2“Take a #Is. 8:1; Ezek. 2:9; Zech. 5:1scroll of a book and #Jer. 30:2; Hab. 2:2write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against #Jer. 25:15all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of #Jer. 25:3Josiah even to this day. 3It #Jer. 26:3; Ezek. 12:3may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may #(Deut. 30:2, 8; 1 Sam. 7:3); Is. 55:7; Jer. 18:8; Jon. 3:8turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4Then Jeremiah #Jer. 32:12called Baruch the son of Neriah; and #Jer. 45:1Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. 5And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord. 6You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house on #Lev. 16:29; 23:27–32; Acts 27:9the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. 7It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” 8And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
9Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 10Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the #Jer. 26:10entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the hearing of all the people.
The Scroll Read in the Palace
11When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book, 12he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—#Jer. 41:1Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, #Jer. 26:22Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. 13Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. 14Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the 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.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
16Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” 17And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?”
18So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”
The King Destroys Jeremiah’s Scroll
20And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king. 21So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. 22Now the king was sitting in #Judg. 3:20; Amos 3:15the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. 23And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24Yet they were #(Ps. 36:1); Jer. 36:16not afraid, nor did they #Gen. 37:29, 34; 2 Sam. 1:11; 1 Kin. 21:27; 2 Kin. 19:1, 2; 22:11; Is. 36:22; 37:1; Jon. 3:6tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. 26And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.
Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll
27Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 28“Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You have burned this scroll, saying, #Jer. 32:3‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to #Jer. 25:9–11; 26:9cease from here?’ ” 30Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: #Jer. 22:30“He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be #Jer. 22:19cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” ’ ”
32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.