Jeremiah 36
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 36[a]
Baruch Writes the Prophecies on a Scroll.[b] 1 In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day when I first spoke to you, during the reign of Josiah, until today. 3 Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disasters that I intend to inflict upon them, they will all turn back from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.
4 Then Jeremiah summoned Baruch, the son of Neriah, and dictated everything that the Lord had spoken to him so that Baruch might write it all on a scroll. 5 He also gave Baruch the following instruction. “Inasmuch as I am prevented from entering the house of the Lord, 6 you yourself must go there, and on a fast day, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord’s house, you shall read from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote at my dictation.
“You shall read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who travel there from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will then plead before the Lord, and all of them will turn from their evil ways. For great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has threatened against this people.” 8 Then Baruch, the son of Neriah, prepared to do everything that the prophet Jeremiah had ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the son of Josiah, a fast before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people of Jerusalem and all those who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem. 10 Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the room of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe, which was in the upper court, at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the hearing of all the people.
11 When Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord that had been read from the scroll, 12 he went down to the king’s palace and entered the scribe’s chamber, where all the officials were in session: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan, the son of Achbor, Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.
13 After Micaiah had reported to them all that he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll to the people, 14 the officials then sent Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shemaliah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Come to us and bring with you the scroll that you read publicly to the people.” Holding the scroll in his hand, Baruch, the son of Neriah, came into their presence.
15 “Sit down,” they said to him, “and read it to us.” Baruch read it to them, 16 and when they had heard all the words, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, “We must certainly report this to the king.”
17 They then asked Baruch, “Please tell us how you came to write all these words. Were they dictated to you by Jeremiah?” 18 Baruch replied, “Jeremiah dictated all these words, and I wrote them down in ink on the scroll.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must go into hiding, and be extremely careful not to let anyone know where you are.”
20 Leaving the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe, the officials then went to the court of the king, and they reported all that had occurred. 21 The king sent Jehudi for the scroll, and he brought it from the room of Elishama the scribe and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.
22 Since it was the ninth month of the year, the king was sitting in his winter residence, and there was a fire burning in a brazier in front of him. 23 Each time Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the fire in the brazier until the entire scroll was finally consumed in the brazier’s flames.
24 However, despite hearing all these words, neither the king nor any of his officials showed the slightest alarm, nor did they tear their garments. 25 And although Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them. 26 Then the king ordered his son Jerahmeel, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. However, the Lord had hidden them.
27 After the king had burned the scroll with all the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 Take another scroll and inscribe on it everything that was written on the first scroll which King Jehoiakim of Judah has burned. 29 Also state clearly to Jehoiakim, the king of Judah: Thus says the Lord: You have dared to burn that scroll, saying: Why did you write in it that the king of Babylon without question will come and destroy this land and leave it devoid of men and animals?
30 Therefore, thus says the Lord about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no descendant to succeed him on the throne of David, and his dead body will be exposed to the blazing heat of the day and icy frost at night. 31 I will punish him and his offspring and his attendants for their wickedness, and I will bring down on them and on the citizens of Jerusalem and on the people of Judah all the disasters with which I threatened them, because they paid no heed to my warnings.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire, in addition to many more words than there had been previously.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 36:1 This third part of the Book is drawn from the memoirs of Baruch and reveals the suffering of Jeremiah in the last years of his life (605–587 B.C.). Nowhere else in the Book does the prophet appear more human, more “Christian.” His painful life joins him with the suffering Servant of Second Isaiah (Isa 53). The suffering he endured for almost twenty years made the poor and humiliated Jeremiah one of the purest anticipations of Christ.
- Jeremiah 36:1 When Nebuchadnezzar, scourge of God, came on the scene in 605 B.C., he brought a turning point in history.
Jeremiah 36
New King James Version
The Scroll Read in the Temple
36 Now it came to pass in the (A)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Take a (B)scroll of a book and (C)write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against (D)all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of (E)Josiah even to this day. 3 It (F)may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may (G)turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah (H)called Baruch the son of Neriah; and (I)Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, [a]at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord. 6 You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written [b]at my instruction, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house on (J)the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. 7 It 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.” 8 And 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.
9 Now 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. 10 Then 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 (K)entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the [c]hearing of all the people.
The Scroll Read in the Palace
11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book, 12 he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—(L)Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, (M)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 the book in the hearing 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 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. 15 And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
16 Now 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.” 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—[d]at his instruction?”
18 So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19 Then 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
20 And 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. 21 So 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. 22 Now the king was sitting in (N)the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. 23 And 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. 24 Yet they were (O)not afraid, nor did they (P)tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25 Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel [e]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
27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written [f]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. 29 And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You have burned this scroll, saying, (Q)‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to (R)cease from here?’ ” 30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: (S)“He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be (T)cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will punish him, his [g]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.” ’ ”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it [h]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.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 36:4 Lit. from Jeremiah’s mouth
- Jeremiah 36:6 Lit. from my mouth
- Jeremiah 36:10 Lit. ears
- Jeremiah 36:17 Lit. with his mouth
- Jeremiah 36:26 Or son of Hammelech
- Jeremiah 36:27 Lit. from Jeremiah’s mouth
- Jeremiah 36:31 Lit. seed
- Jeremiah 36:32 Lit. from Jeremiah’s mouth
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
