Jeremiah 36

Revised Geneva Translation

36 And in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this Word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² “Take a scroll of a Book and write in it all the Words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day that I spoke to you (from the days of Josiah) to this day.

³ “It may be that the House of Judah will hear of all the misery which I determined to bring to them, so that everyone may turn from his evil way, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sins.”

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah. And Jeremiah dictated, and Baruch wrote down, all the Words of the LORD which He had spoken to Jeremiah upon a scroll of a Book.

⁵ And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am detained, and cannot go into the House of the LORD.

⁶ “Therefore, you go and read the scroll which I have dictated and you have written, the Words of the LORD, in the audience of the people in the LORD’s House, upon the fasting day. Also, you shall read them within the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities.

⁷ “It may be that they will pray before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the wrath that the LORD has declared against this people.”

⁸ So Baruch, the son of Neriah, did according to all that Jeremiah the Prophet commanded him, reading the Words of the LORD from the Book in the LORD’s House.

⁹ And in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah.

¹⁰ Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the Book, in the House of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the Secretary, in the higher court at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s House, within the hearing of all the people.

¹¹ When Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the Words of the LORD from the Book,

¹² then, he went down to the king’s house, into the Chancellor’s chamber. And lo, all the princes sat there: Elishama the Chancellor, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

¹³ Then Michaiah declared to them all the Words that he had heard when Baruch read from the Book in the audience of the people.

¹⁴ Therefore, all the princes sent Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take the scroll in your hand from which you have read in the audience of the people, and come.” So, Baruch, the 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, so that we may hear.” So, Baruch read it, and revealed it to them.

¹⁶ Now when they had heard all the Words, they turned in fear to one another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely declare to the king all of these Words!”

¹⁷ And they examined Baruch, saying, “Tell us, now, how did you write all these Words — from his mouth?”

¹⁸ Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these Words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them in the Book with ink.”

¹⁹ Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah. And do not let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰ And they went in to the king, to the court. But they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the Chancellor, and told the king all the Words, so that he might hear.

²¹ So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll. And he took it out of Elishama the Chancellor’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the audience of all the princes who stood beside the king.

²² Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month. And there was a fire burning before him.

²³ And when Jehudi had read three or four columns, he cut it with the sheath and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until the whole scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

²⁴ Yet they were not afraid and did not tear their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these Words.

²⁵ Nevertheless, Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah had implored the king not to burn the scroll. But he would not hear them.

²⁶ Rather, the king commanded Jerahmeel, the son of Hammelech, and 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.

²⁷ Then the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah (after the king had burnt the scroll and the Words that Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch) saying,

²⁸ “Again, take another scroll. And write in it all the former Words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burnt.

²⁹ “And you shall say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have burnt this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it, saying that the king of Babel shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall cause man and beast to cease from there?’”

³⁰ ‘Therefore thus says the LORD of Jehoiakim, king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit upon the throne of David. And his dead body shall be cast out in the heat of the day and to the frost of the night.

³¹ “And I will visit him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the misery 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 in it, from the dictation of Jeremiah, all the Words of the Book which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burnt in the fire. And many similar Words were also added to them.