The Scroll Written and Read
36 1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from our Father:
2 "Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you in the days of Josiah until this day. 3 Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, so that they may each turn from their evil way, and I will forgive their iniquity and their sin."
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll, at Jeremiah's dictation, all the words our Father had spoken to him. 5 Then Jeremiah instructed Baruch, "I am confined; I cannot go to the house of our Father. 6 So you go, and on a day of fasting read aloud from the scroll the words of our Father that you wrote at my dictation, for all the people in his house to hear; read them also to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7 Perhaps their plea for mercy will come before our Father, and they will each turn from their evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that our Father has pronounced against this people."
8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading aloud from the book the words of our Father in the house of our Father. 9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all who came from the towns of Judah proclaimed a fast before our Father. 10 Then Baruch read aloud Jeremiah's words from the book for all the people to hear, in the house of our Father, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of our Father.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of our Father from the book, 12 he went down to the king's house, to the chamber of the scribe, and there all the officials were sitting: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13 Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read aloud from the book to the people. 14 So all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, "Bring the scroll you read aloud to the people, and come." So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and came to them.
15 And they said to him, "Sit down and read it aloud to us." So Baruch read it to them.
16 When they heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, "We must surely report all these words to the king." 17 Then they asked Baruch, "Tell us, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?"
18 Baruch answered them, "He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in the book with ink."
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; let no one know where you are."
20 So they went to the king in the courtyard, having left the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, 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 scribe. Jehudi read it aloud to the king and to all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house — it was the ninth month — and a fire was burning in the fire pot before him. 23 And as Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe's knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire. 24 Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments. a a v24 Tearing one's clothes was a traditional sign of grief, mourning, or repentance before God. 25 Even though Elnathan, 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, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but our Father had hidden them.
27 Then the word of our Father came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll with the words Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation:
28 "Take another scroll again and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you are to say: Thus says our Father: You have burned this scroll, saying, 'Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land and wipe out from it every person and animal?' 30 Therefore thus says our Father concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be thrown out to the heat by day and the frost by night. 31 I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on the people of Judah all the disaster I pronounced against them — but they would not listen."
32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah the scribe, and at Jeremiah's dictation he wrote on it all the words of the book that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many more words like them were added.