Jeremiah 36-38

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

The Scroll Read in the Temple

36 In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah 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 when the house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

⁴ Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. ⁵ And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, ‘I am prevented from entering the house of the Lord; ⁶ so you go yourself, and on a fast day in the hearing of 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 people of Judah who come up from their towns. ⁷ It may be that their plea will come before the Lord, and that all of them will turn from their evil ways, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.’ ⁸ And Baruch son of Neriah did all that the prophet Jeremiah ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

⁹ In the fifth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns 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 son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

The Scroll Read in the Palace

¹¹ When Micaiah 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 son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah 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 son of Nethaniah son of Shelemiah son of Cushi to say to Baruch, ‘Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.’ So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. ¹⁵ And they said to him, ‘Sit down and read it to us.’ So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard all the words, they turned to one another in alarm, and said to Baruch, ‘We certainly must report all these words to the king.’ ¹⁷ Then they questioned Baruch, ‘Tell us now, 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 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.’

Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll

²⁰ Leaving the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, they went to the court of the king; 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 Now the king was sitting in his winter apartment (it was the ninth month), and there was a fire burning in the brazier before him. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king^[a] would cut them off with a penknife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. ²⁴ Yet neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words, was alarmed, 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 son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the secretary Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the Lord hid them.

Jeremiah Dictates Another

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 King Jehoiakim of Judah has burned. ²⁹ And concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah you shall say: Thus says the Lord, You have dared to burn 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 human beings and animals? ³⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He shall have no one to sit upon 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 on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah, all the disasters with which I have threatened them—but they would not listen.

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the secretary Baruch 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; and many similar words were added to them.

Zedekiah’s Vain Hope

37 Zedekiah son of Josiah, whom King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, succeeded Coniah son of Jehoiakim. ² But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.

³ King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah saying, ‘Please pray for us to the Lord our God.’ ⁴ Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. ⁵ Meanwhile, the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: ⁷ Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: This is what the two of you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Pharaoh’s army, which set out to help you, is going to return to its own land, to Egypt. ⁸ And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; they shall take it and burn it with fire. ⁹ Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely go away from us’, for they will not go away. ¹⁰ Even if you defeated the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.

Jeremiah Is Imprisoned

¹¹ Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his share of property^[b] among the people there. ¹³ When he reached the Benjamin Gate, a sentinel there named Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘You are deserting to the Chaldeans.’ ¹⁴ And Jeremiah said, ‘That is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.’ But Irijah would not listen to him, and arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵ The officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of the secretary Jonathan, for it had been made a prison. ¹⁶ Thus Jeremiah was put in the cistern house, in the cells, and remained there for many days.

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for him, and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house, and said, ‘Is there any word from the Lord?’ Jeremiah said, ‘There is!’ Then he said, ‘You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ ¹⁸ Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, ‘What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, “The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land”? ²⁰ Now please hear me, my lord king: be good enough to listen to my plea, and do not send me back to the house of the secretary Jonathan to die there.’ ²¹ So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard; and a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

Jeremiah in the Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people, ² Thus says the Lord, Those who stay in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live; they shall have their lives as a prize of war, and live. ³ Thus says the Lord, This city shall surely be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon and be taken. ⁴ Then the officials said to the king, ‘This man ought to be put to death, because he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.’ ⁵ King Zedekiah said, ‘Here he is; he is in your hands; for the king is powerless against you.’ ⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Jeremiah Is Rescued by Ebed-melech

⁷ Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,^[c] a eunuch in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ So Ebed-melech left the king’s house and spoke to the king, ⁹ ‘My lord king, these men have acted wickedly in all they did to the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into the cistern to die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.’ ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,^[d] ‘Take three men with you from here, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies.’ ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe of^[e] the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. ¹² Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian^[f] said to Jeremiah, ‘Just put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.’ Jeremiah did so. ¹³ Then they drew Jeremiah up by the ropes and pulled him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

Zedekiah Consults Jeremiah Again

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, ‘I have something to ask you; do not hide anything from me.’ ¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘If I tell you, you will put me to death, will you not? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.’ ¹⁶ So King Zedekiah swore an oath in secret to Jeremiah, ‘As the Lord lives, who gave us our lives, I will not put you to death or hand you over to these men who seek your life.’

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, If you will only surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be handed over to the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand.’ ¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for I might be handed over to them and they would abuse me.’ ²⁰ Jeremiah said, ‘That will not happen. Just obey the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, and it shall go well with you, and your life shall be spared. ²¹ But if you are determined not to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me— ²² a vision of all the women remaining in the house of the king of Judah being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and saying,

²³ All your wives and your children shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon; and this city shall be burned with fire.’

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘Do not let anyone else know of this conversation, or you will die. ²⁵ If the officials should hear that I have spoken with you, and they should come and say to you, “Just tell us what you said to the king; do not conceal it from us, or we will put you to death. What did the king say to you?” ²⁶ then you shall say to them, “I was presenting my plea to the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.”’ ²⁷ All the officials did come to Jeremiah and questioned him; and he answered them in the very words the king had commanded. So they stopped questioning him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.