Bible Text & Cross-references:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
5 And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot go
into the house of the Lord.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
11 And when Micheas, the son of Gamarias, the son of Saphan, had heard
out of the book all the words of the Lord,
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.
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.
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.
15 And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our hearing.
And Baruch read in their hearing.
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.
17 And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all these
words from his mouth.
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.
19 And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and Jeremias,
and let no man know where you are.
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.
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.
22 Now the king sat in the winter-house, In the ninth month; and there
was a hearth before him, full of burning coals.
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.
24 And the king, and all his servants that heard all these words, were
not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.
25 But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king, not
to burn the book; and he heard them not.
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.
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:
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, hath burnt.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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1: Year of the World 3398, Year before Christ 606.