The first scroll of Jeremiah
1The Lord talked to Jeremiah again in the 4th year after Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, had become king_of_Judah. The Lord said to him: 2‘Take a scroll and write everything on it that I have told you about Israel and Judah, from the time that Josiah was king, until now. 3Maybe the people of Judah will stop doing things that are wrong if they read and hear all the bad things I want to do to them. If they stop, I will forgive their sins.’
4Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah, to come to him and Baruch wrote everything that the Lord had said on the scroll. He wrote down what Jeremiah told him. 5Jeremiah said to Baruch: ‘I am in jail, and I can not go to the temple. 6You must go to the temple and you must tell all the people everything that you have written on the scroll, everything that the Lord said and that I have told you. You must read it at the temple on the day when all the people are fasting. Read it loudly so that all the people can hear you. The people who come from the other towns in Judah must also hear it. 7Maybe they will beg the Lord to have mercy on them and maybe they will stop doing things that are wrong, because the Lord is very angry with them, and He said He was going to punish them.’
8Baruch, son of Neriah, did everything that the prophet Jeremiah told him to do. Baruch went to the temple and he read everything that he had written on the scroll, everything that the Lord had said. 9It was the 5th year after Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, had become king_of_Judah, in the 9th month. All the people of Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the towns of Judah, came together at the temple to pray to the Lord while they were fasting. 10Baruch read everything that he had written on the scroll, everything that Jeremiah had said. He was standing at the room of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, at the upper courtyard where they had to go through the New Gate to the temple. All the people heard what Baruch read. 11Micaiah, son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard what Baruch read from the scroll, about everything that God had said. 12Then Micaiah went to the palace, to the room of the secretary of the king. All the officials were sitting there. They were the secretary Elishama, Delaiah, son of Shemaiah, Elnathan, son of Akbor, Gemariah, son of Shaphan, Zedekiah, son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13Micaiah told them everything that he had heard when Baruch read to the people what he had written on the scroll. 14Then the officials sent Jehudi, son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch: ‘Bring the scroll from which you read to the people and come here.’
Baruch, son of Neriah, took the scroll and he came to them. 15They said to him: ‘Please sit down and read it to us.’
16When they heard everything that Baruch read, they became afraid and said to each other and to Baruch: ‘We must tell the king what you have written, this is sure.’
17They asked Baruch: ‘Please tell us how you knew what to write on the scroll. Did Jeremiah tell you what to write?’
18Baruch said to them: ‘Yes, I wrote all the words that Jeremiah told me to write. He told me everything that I had to write down on the scroll that he gave me.’
19The officials said to Baruch: ‘You and Jeremiah must go and hide. No one may know where you are.’
20The officials went to the king. He was in the courtyard. They left the scroll in the room of the secretary, Elishama. They told the king what Baruch had written on the scroll.
21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi went and he brought the scroll from the room of the secretary Elishama and he read it to the king and to all the officials who were with the king. 22The king was sitting in his winter room. There was a fire burning in the fireplace. It was the 9th month of the year. 23After Jehudi had finished reading 3 or 4 pieces of the scroll, the king cut it off with a small knife and he threw it into the fire that was burning in the fireplace. He continued to do that until all of the scroll was burnt in the fire. 24The king and his officials did not become afraid when they heard everything that was written, and they did not become sad or tear their clothes. 25Only Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah told the king a few times not to burn the scroll, but the king did not listen to them.
26The king told his son, Jerahmeel, and Seraiah, son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, son of Abdeel, to go and arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord hid Jeremiah and Baruch.
The 2nd scroll of Jeremiah
27After the king had burnt the scroll on which Baruch wrote the words that Jeremiah told him, the Lord told Jeremiah: 28‘You must take another scroll and you must write everything down on it that you wrote on the first scroll, the scroll that Jehoiakim, king_of_Judah, has burnt. 29And you must tell Jehoiakim, king_of_Judah: “Jehoiakim, you burnt that scroll and you asked: “‘Why did Jeremiah write on the scroll that the king of Babylon would come and destroy this land and take away all the people and animals?”’ 30That is why the Lord now says about King Jehoiakim of Judah, that not one of his descendants will rule and sit on the throne of King David. When Jehoiakim dies, his body will lie outside on the ground all day long when it is hot and at night when it is cold. 31I, the Lord, will punish him and his descendants and the people who work for him, for everything that they have done wrong. And I will make all the bad things happen to them that I said would happen. It will happen to them and to the people of Jerusalem and the people of Judah because they did not listen to Me.” ’
32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and he gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah. Baruch wrote down everything that Jeremiah said, everything that was on the first scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burnt. Jeremiah told Baruch even more things to write down.
