Jeremia 36 | New International Reader’s Version

Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah’s scroll

1 A message from the LORD came to Jeremiah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. The message said, 2 ‘Get a scroll. Write on it all the words I have spoken to you. Write down what I have said about Israel, Judah and all the other nations. Write what I have said to you from the time of King Josiah until now. 3 The people of Judah will hear about all the trouble I plan to bring on them. Maybe then each of them will turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the evil things they have done.’ 4 So Jeremiah sent for Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jeremiah told him to write down all the words the LORD had spoken to him. And Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah said to him, ‘I’m not allowed to go to the LORD’s temple. 6 So you go there. Go on a day when the people are fasting. Read to them from the scroll. Read the words of the LORD you wrote down as I gave them to you. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7 They will hear what the LORD will do to them when his burning anger blazes out against them. Then perhaps they will pray to him. And maybe each of them will turn from their evil ways.’ 8 Baruch, the son of Neriah, did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do. He went to the LORD’s temple. There he read the words of the LORD from the scroll. 9 It was in the fifth year that Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, was king of Judah. It was the ninth month of that year. A time of fasting at the LORD’s temple had been ordered. All the people in Jerusalem were told to take part in it. So were those who had come in from the towns of Judah. 10 Baruch read to all the people who were at the LORD’s temple. He read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll. He was in the room of Gemariah the secretary. It was located in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple. Gemariah was the son of Shaphan. 11 Micaiah was the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Micaiah heard Baruch reading all the LORD’s words that were written on the scroll. 12 Then he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace. All the officials were sitting there. They included the secretary Elishama and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah. Elnathan, the son of Akbor, was also there. So was Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, was there too. And so were all the other officials. 13 Micaiah told all of them what he had heard. He told them everything Baruch had read to the people from the scroll. 14 All the officials sent Jehudi to speak to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jehudi was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Cushi. Jehudi said to Baruch, ‘Come. Bring the scroll you have read to the people.’ So Baruch went to them. He carried the scroll with him. 15 The officials said to him, ‘Please sit down. Read the scroll to us.’ So Baruch read it to them. 16 They heard all its words. Then they looked at one another in fear. They said to Baruch, ‘We must report all these words to the king.’ 17 They said to Baruch, ‘Tell us. How did you happen to write all these things? Did Jeremiah tell you to do this?’ 18 ‘Yes’, Baruch replied. ‘He told me to write down all these words. So I wrote them in ink on the scroll.’ 19 Then the officials spoke to Baruch. They said, ‘You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.’ 20 The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary. Then they went to the king in the courtyard. They reported everything to him. 21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi read it to the king. All the officials were standing beside the king. So they heard it too. 22 It was the ninth month. The king was sitting in his winter apartment. A fire was burning in the brazier in front of him. 23 Jehudi read three or four sections from the scroll. Then the king cut them off with a secretary’s knife. He threw them into the brazier. He did that until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and some of his attendants heard all these words. But they weren’t afraid. They didn’t tear their clothes. 25 Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll. But he wouldn’t listen to them. 26 Instead, the king commanded three men to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them. The three men were Jerahmeel, Seraiah and Shelemiah. Jerahmeel was a member of the royal court. Seraiah was the son of Azriel. And Shelemiah was the son of Abdeel. 27 A message from the LORD came to Jeremiah. It came after the king burned the scroll. On the scroll were the words Baruch had written down. Jeremiah had told him to write them. The message said, 28 ‘Get another scroll. Write on it all the words that were on the first one. King Jehoiakim burned that one. 29 Also tell King Jehoiakim, “The LORD says, ‘You burned that scroll. You said to Baruch, “Why did you write that the king of Babylon would certainly come? Why did you write that he would destroy this land? And why did you write that he would remove from it people and animals alike?” ’ 30 So now the LORD has something to say about Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. He says, ‘No one from Jehoiakim’s family line will sit on David’s throne. Jehoiakim’s body will be thrown out. It will lie outside in the heat by day and in the frost at night. 31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants. I will punish them for their sinful ways. I will bring on them all the trouble I said I would. And I will bring it on the people of Jerusalem and Judah. They have not listened to me.’ ” ’ 32 So Jeremiah got another scroll. He gave it to Baruch the secretary. He was the son of Neriah. Jeremiah told Baruch what to write on it. Baruch wrote down all the words that were on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. And many more words were written on it. They were similar to those that had already been written.

English Standard Version

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the 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 that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. 5 And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, “I am banned from going to the house of the Lord, 6 so you are to go, and on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the Lord’s house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. 7 It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house. 9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10 Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. 11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12 he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. 13 And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Take in your hand the scroll that you 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. 15 And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. 16 When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” 17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” 18 Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.” 20 So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. 23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. 24 Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. 25 Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them. 27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” 30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31 And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster 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 on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Jeremia 36 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah’s scroll

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll