Jeremias sends Baruch to read his prophecies in the temple; the book is
brought to king Joakim, who burns it. The prophet denounces his
judgment, and causes Baruch to write a new copy.
36:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias
king of Juda, that this word came to Jeremias by the Lord, saying:
36:2. Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the
words that I have spoken to thee against Israel and Juda, and against
all the nations from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of
Josias even to this day.
36:3. If so be, when the house of Juda shall hear all the evils that I
purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his wicked
way: and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin.
36:4. So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Nerias: and Baruch wrote from
the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to him,
upon the roll of a book.
36:5. And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot go
into the house of the Lord.
Shut up... Not that the prophet was now in prison; for the contrary
appears from ver. 19, but that he kept himself shut up, by reason of the
persecutions he had lately met with. See chap. 26.
36:6. Go thou in therefore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast
written from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the
people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day: and also thou shalt
read them in the hearing of all Juda that come out of their cities:
36:7. If so be they may present their supplication before the Lord, and
may return every one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and
indignation which the Lord hath pronounced against this people.
36:8. And Baruch the son of Nerias did according to all that Jeremias
the prophet had commanded him, reading out of the volume the words of
the Lord in the house of the Lord.
36:9. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias
king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the
Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that were
come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.
36:10. And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremias in the
house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the
scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house of
the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.
36:11. And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard
out of the book all the words of the Lord,
36:12. He went down into the king's house to the secretary's chamber:
and behold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dalaias
the son of Semeias, and Elnathan the son of Achobor, and Gamarias the
son of Saphan, and Sedecias the son of Hananias, and all the princes.
36:13. And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch
read out of the volume in the hearing of the people.
36:14. Therefore all the princes sent Judi the son of Nathanias, the son
of Selemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, saying: Take in thy hand the
volume in which thou hast read in the hearing of the people, and come.
So Baruch the son of Nerias took the volume in his hand, and came to
them.
36:15. And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our
hearing. And Baruch read in their hearing.
36:16. And when they had heard all the words, they looked upon one
another with astonishment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the
king all these words.
36:17. And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all
these words from his mouth.
36:18. And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pronounced all these
words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink.
36:19. And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and
Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.
36:20. And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up the
volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words
in the hearing of the king.
36:21. And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who
bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the
hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.
36:22. Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and
there was a hearth before him full of burning coals.
36:23. And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the
penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that was upon the hearth, till
all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth.
36:24. And the king and all his servants that heard all these words were
not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.
36:25. But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king,
not to burn the book: and he heard them not.
36:26. And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias
the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch the
scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.
36:27. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after that
the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had written
from the mouth of Jeremias, saying:
36:28. Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former
words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda both
burnt.
36:29. And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the
Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written
therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall
lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
36:30. Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda: He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall
be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.
He shall have none, etc... Because his son Joachin or Jechonias, within
three months after the death of his father, was carried away to Babylon,
so that his reign is not worthy of notice.
36:31. And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their
iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have pronounced
against them, but they have not heard.
36:32. And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son
of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the
words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with fire: and
there were added besides many more words than had been before.