 1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of King Josiah of Judah, this Word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2 Take for yourself a roll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I plan to do to them, that they may each man turn from his evil way, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which He had spoken to him, on a roll of a book. 5 Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. 6 Therefore you go, and read in the roll which you have written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the hearing+ of the people in the Lord's house on the fasting day. And also you shall read them in the hearing+ of all Judah who come out of their cities. 7 It may be they will present their prayer before the Lord, and will return, each one from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has spoken against this people. 8 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book, the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. 9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of King Josiah of Judah, in the ninth month, they called 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 Baruch read in the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance to the New Gate of the Lord's house, in the hearing+ of all the people. 11 When Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord out of the book, 12 he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's room, and all the rulers sat there. Even Elishama the scribe and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah and Elnathan the son of Achbor and Gemariah the son of Shaphan and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah and all the rulers. 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 rulers sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch saying, Take the roll in your hand in which you have read in the hearing+ of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came to them. 15 They said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. 16 When they had heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 17 They asked Baruch saying, Tell us now, How did you write all these words at his mouth? 18 Then Baruch answered them, He spoke all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink on the book. 19 The rulers said to Baruch, Go hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah. And let no man know where you are. 20 They went in to the king into the court. But they laid up the roll in the room of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing+ of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the roll. And he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing+ of the king, and in the hearing+ of all the rulers who stood beside the king. 22 The king sat in the winter house in the ninth month. Also with the burning fire pan before him. 23 When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the scribe's knife and threw it into the fire in the fire pan, until all the scroll was burned up in the fire pan. 24 Yet the king and all his servants who heard these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments. 25 But Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had pleaded with the king that he should not burn the scroll, but he would not hear them. 26 The king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and 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. 27 Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah saying, 28 Take for yourself another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah has burned. 29 You shall say to King Jehoiakim of Judah, Thus says the Lord: You have burned this scroll saying, Why have you written in it saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause man and beast to cease from there? 30 Therefore thus says the Lord of King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost. 31 I will punish him and his descendants and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring on them, and on the people of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evils that I have spoken against them. But they did not listen. 32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire. And many words like them were added to them.
|