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the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king 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, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I began speaking to you during the reign of Josiah until this day. 3 It may be that when the house of Judah hears about all the disasters I am planning to bring upon them, that each one will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated all the words that the Lord had spoken to him, and Baruch wrote them down on a scroll. 5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted, so I cannot go into the House of the Lord. 6 So you must go to the Lord’s temple on the day of fasting, and read from the scroll that I dictated to you the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people. You must also read them in the hearing of all the people of Judah who are coming from their cities. 7 Perhaps they will present their petition before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil ways, for the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people is very great.”
8 So Baruch son of Neriah did everything that Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him, reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the House of the Lord.
9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who had come to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah. 10 Then Baruch, in the hearing of all the people, read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the House of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, which was in the upper courtyard at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple.
11 When Michaiah son of Gemeriah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12 he went down to the king’s palace, into the scribe’s chamber, where 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 told them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “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 went to them. 15 They said to him, “Sit down and read it in our hearing,”
So Baruch read it to them. 16 Then when they heard all the words, they turned to one another in alarm and said to Baruch, “We must report to the king of all these words.” 17 Then they asked 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 while I was writing them on the scroll in ink.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”
20 They placed the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and then went to the court of the king. There they reported all the words in the hearing of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 Now as it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters, and there was a fire burning on a hearth in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had finished reading three or four columns from the scroll, King Jehoiakim cut off that portion from the scroll and threw it into the fire on the hearth, until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth. 24 Yet the king and his servants showed no fear when they heard all these words, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 Then 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 the Lord had hidden them.
27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch had written from the dictation of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll, and write on it the former words that Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 Then you must say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘You have burned this scroll and said, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause it to be without man or beast?” 30 Therefore, this is what the Lord says 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 of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will punish him, his descendants, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the people of Jerusalem, and on all the men of Judah all the disasters which I warned them about, but they would not listen”.”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and he wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire there. And many similar words were added to them.