Baruch Reads the Scroll in the Temple
1 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, 2 “Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”
4 So I called Baruch son of Neriah and dictated to him everything that the Lord had said to me. And Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll. 5 Then I gave Baruch the following instructions: “I am no longer allowed to go into the Temple. 6 But I want you to go there the next time the people are fasting. You are to read the scroll aloud, so that they will hear everything that the Lord has said to me and that I have dictated to you. Do this where everyone can hear you, including the people of Judah who have come in from their towns. 7 Perhaps they will pray to the Lord and turn from their evil ways, because the Lord has threatened this people with his terrible anger and fury.” 8 So Baruch read the Lord's words in the Temple exactly as I had told him to do.
9 In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, the people fasted to gain the Lord's favor. The fast was kept by all who lived in Jerusalem and by all who came there from the towns of Judah. 10 Then, while all the people were listening, Baruch read from the scroll everything that I had said. He did this in the Temple, from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the court secretary. His room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple.
The Scroll Is Read to the Officials
11 Micaiah, the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll what the Lord had said. 12 Then he went to the royal palace, to the room of the court secretary, where all the officials were in session. Elishama, the court secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there. 13 Micaiah told them everything that he had heard Baruch read to the people. 14 Then the officials sent Jehudi (the son of Nethaniah, grandson of Shelemiah, and great-grandson of Cushi) to tell Baruch to bring the scroll that he had read to the people. Baruch brought them the scroll. 15 “Sit down,” they said, “and read the scroll to us.” So Baruch did. 16 After he had read it, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, “We must report this to the king.” 17 Then they asked him, “Tell us, now, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it to you?”
18 Baruch answered, “Jeremiah dictated every word of it to me, and I wrote it down in ink on this scroll.”
19 Then they told him, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are.”
The King Burns the Scroll
20 The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the court secretary, and went to the king's court, where they reported everything to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took it from the room of Elishama and read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him. 22 It was winter and the king was sitting in his winter palace in front of the fire. 23 As soon as Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king cut them off with a small knife and threw them into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was burned up. 24 But neither the king nor any of his officials who heard all this was afraid or showed any sign of sorrow. 25 Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he paid no attention to them. 26 Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the Lord had hidden us.
Jeremiah Writes Another Scroll
27 After King Jehoiakim had burned the scroll that I had dictated to Baruch, the Lord told me 28 to take another scroll and write on it everything that had been on the first one. 29 The Lord told me to say to the king, “You have burned the scroll, and you have asked Jeremiah why he wrote that the king of Babylonia would come and destroy this land and kill its people and its animals. 30 So now, I, the Lord, say to you, King Jehoiakim, that no descendant of yours will ever rule over David's kingdom. Your corpse will be thrown out where it will be exposed to the sun during the day and to the frost at night. 31 I will punish you, your descendants, and your officials because of the sins all of you commit. Neither you nor the people of Jerusalem and of Judah have paid any attention to my warnings, and so I will bring on all of you the disaster that I have threatened.”
32 Then I took another scroll and gave it to my secretary Baruch, and he wrote down everything that I dictated. He wrote everything that had been on the first scroll and similar messages that I dictated to him.
1 And in the fourth yeere of Iehoiakim the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah, came this word vnto Ieremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Take thee a roule or booke, and write therein all the wordes that I haue spoken to thee against Israel, and against Iudah, and against all the nations, from the day that I spake vnto thee, euen from the dayes of Iosiah vnto this day. 3 It may bee that the House of Iudah will heare of all the euill, which I determined to doe vnto them that they may returne euery man from his euil way, that I may forgiue their iniquitie and their sinnes. 4 Then Ieremiah called Baruch the sonne of Neriah, and Baruch wrote at the mouth of Ieremiah all the wordes of the Lord, which hee had spoken vnto him, vpon a roule or booke. 5 And Ieremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut vp, and can not go into the House of the Lord. 6 Therefore goe thou, and reade the roule wherein thou hast written at my mouth the words of the Lord in the audience of the people in the Lordes House vpon the fasting day: also thou shalt reade them in the hearing of all Iudah, that come out of their cities. 7 It may be that they will pray before the Lord, and euery one returne from his euill way, for great is the anger and the wrath, that the Lord hath declared against this people. 8 So Baruch the sonne of Neriah did according vnto all, that Ieremiah the Prophet commanded him, reading in the booke the wordes of the Lord in the Lords House. 9 And in the fift yeere of Iehoiakim the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah, in the ninth moneth, they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Ierusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Iudah vnto Ierusalem. 10 Then read Baruch in the booke the wordes of Ieremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the sonne of Shaphan the secretarie, in the hier court at the entrie of the new gate of the Lordes house, in the hearing of all the people. 11 When Michaiah the sonne of Gemariah, the sonne of Shaphan had heard out of the booke all the wordes of the Lord, 12 Then hee went downe to the Kings house into the Chancellours chamber, and loe, all the princes sate there, euen Elishama the Chancellour, and Delaiah the sonne of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the sonne of Achbor, and Gemariah the sonne of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the sonne of Hananiah, and all the princes. 13 Then Michaiah declared vnto them all the wordes that he had heard when Baruch read in the booke in the audience of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Iehudi the sonne of Nethaniah, the sonne of Shelemiah, the sonne of Chushi, vnto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hande the roule, wherein thou hast read in the audience of the people, and come. So Baruch the sonne of Neriah, tooke the roule in his hand, and came vnto them. 15 And they saide vnto him, Sit downe now, and reade it, that we may heare. So Baruch read it in their audience. 16 Now when they had heard all the wordes, they were afraid both one and other, and said vnto Baruch, We will certifie the King of all these wordes. 17 And they examined Baruch, saying, Tell vs nowe, howe diddest thou write all these wordes at his mouth? 18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these wordes vnto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ynke in the booke. 19 Then saide the princes vnto Baruch, Goe, hide thee, thou and Ieremiah, and let no man knowe where ye be. 20 And they went in to the King to the court, but they layde vp the roule in the chamber of Elishama the Chancellour and tolde the King all the wordes, that he might heare. 21 So the King sent Iehudi to fet the roule, and he tooke it out of Elishama the Chancellours chamber, and Iehudi read it in the audience of the King, and in the audience of all the princes, which stoode beside the King. 22 Nowe the King sate in the winter House, in the ninth moneth, and there was a fire burning before him. 23 And when Iehudi had read three, or foure sides, hee cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire, that was on the hearth vntil all the roule was consumed in the fire, that was on the hearth. 24 Yet they were not afraide, nor rent their garmets, neither the King, nor any of his seruants, that heard all these wordes. 25 Neuerthelesse, Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah had besought the King, that he would not burne ye roule: but he would not heare them. 26 But the King commanded Ierahmeel the sonne of Hammelech, and Seraiah the sonne of Azriel, and Shelemiah the sonne of Abdiel, to take Baruch the scribe, and Ieremiah the Prophet, but the Lord hid them. 27 Then the word of the Lord came to Ieremiah (after that the King had burnt the roule and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Ieremiah) saying, 28 Take thee againe another roule and write in it all ye former words that were in the first roule which Iehoiakim the King of Iudah hath burnt, 29 And thou shalt say to Iehoiakim King of Iudah, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast burnt this roule, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, that the King of Babel shall certainly come and destroye this land, and shall take thence both man and beast? 30 Therefore thus saith the Lord of Iehoiakim King of Iudah, Hee shall haue none to sit vpon the throne of Dauid, and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heate, and in the night to the frost. 31 And I will visite him and his seede, and his seruants for their iniquitie, and I will bring vpon them, and vpon the inhabitants of Ierusalem, and vpon the men of Iudah all the euil that I haue pronounced against them: but they would not heare. 32 Then tooke Ieremiah another roule, and gaue it Baruch the scribe the sonne of Neriah, which wrote therein at the mouth of Ieremiah all the wordes of the booke which Iehoiakim King of Iudah had burnt in the fire, and there were added besides them many like wordes.