Major Prophets · Chapter 36 of 52

Jeremiah 36

God tells Jeremiah to write all his words on a scroll, hoping Judah will repent. Baruch reads it publicly, then before the alarmed officials. When the scroll reaches King Jehoiakim, he cuts it apart column by column and burns it in his fire, unafraid. God commands Jeremiah to write another scroll with the same words and more, and declares judgment on Jehoiakim, whose body will lie unburied and whose line will lose the throne.

What happens in Jeremiah 36

In Jehoiakim's fourth year, God tells Jeremiah to record on a scroll every word he has spoken against Israel, Judah, and the nations since Josiah's day, hoping the people will hear and repent. Jeremiah, barred from the temple, dictates to Baruch, who writes it all. On a fast day Baruch reads the scroll to the people. The princes summon Baruch to read it again; alarmed, they advise him and Jeremiah to hide and resolve to tell the king. When Jehudi reads the scroll to King Jehoiakim in his winter house, the king slices off each portion with a penknife and throws it into the hearth fire until the whole scroll is consumed, ignoring the pleas of some officials.

He orders Baruch and Jeremiah seized, but God hides them. God then commands a second scroll, restoring the burned words and adding many more, and pronounces that Jehoiakim will have no heir on David's throne and his corpse will be exposed.

Jeremiah 36 in context

Jehoiakim, installed by Egypt and later subject to Babylon, reigned as a proud and violent king around 604 BC, the year of this account. Scrolls were read aloud publicly, and a royal winter house with a brazier fits the ninth month.

The episode dramatizes a decisive rejection of God's word by the throne itself, and it explains how Jeremiah's prophecies came to be collected and preserved in written form.

Main themes of Jeremiah 36

Jeremiah 36 (KJV)

1And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. 3It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 4Then 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 unto him, upon a roll of a book. 5And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD: 6Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. 7It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people. 8And 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. 9And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. 10Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house, in the ears of all the people. 11When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD, 12Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes 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 princes. 13Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them. 15And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. 16Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 17And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? 18Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. 19Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be. 20And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. 21So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. 22Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. 23And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. 25Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them. 26But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them. 27Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. 29And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? 30Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. 31And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not. 32Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

Verses to carry from Jeremiah 36

“It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”Jeremiah 36:3

“And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.”Jeremiah 36:23

“Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.”Jeremiah 36:28

Reflection

Jehoiakim could burn the scroll but not escape its word. We cannot edit God's truth by ignoring the parts that convict us. Is there a word from God you have been quietly cutting away because it costs too much to keep? The word you try to silence still stands, and still judges. Better to tremble and turn.

A prayer from Jeremiah 36