Jeremiah 43

1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Take yourself a sheet of a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Jerusalem and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah king of Judah, until this day.” 3 “Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the disasters I intend to do to them, so that they turn from their evil way, and I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings and their sins.” 4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a sheet of a scroll, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. 5 Then Jeremiah gave Baruch this charge: “I am under guard; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.” 6 “So you are to go and read from this sheet in the hearing of the people in the house of the Lord on a fast day; read it also in the hearing of all Judah who come in from their cities.” 7 “Perhaps their plea for mercy will fall before the Lord, and they will turn from their evil way, for great is the wrath and the anger that the Lord has spoken against this people.” 8 And Baruch did everything Jeremiah had charged him — to read the words of the Lord from the book in the house of the Lord.

9 In the eighth year of King Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and the house of Judah called a fast before the Lord. [a] 10 And Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people. 11 Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book, 12 and he went down to the king’s house, to the scribe’s chamber, and there all the rulers were sitting — Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shelemiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the rulers. 13 Micaiah told them all the words he had heard Baruch reading in the hearing of the people. 14 Then all the rulers sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch son of Neriah, saying, “The sheet you have been reading from in the hearing of the people — take it in your hand and come.” So Baruch took the sheet and went down to them. 15 They said to him, “Read it again in our hearing.” And Baruch read it. 16 When they had heard all the words, they took counsel with one another and said, “We must certainly report all these words to the king.” 17 And they asked Baruch, “Where did you write all these words?” 18 Baruch said, “Jeremiah told me all these words from his own mouth, and I wrote them in the book.” 19 Then they said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah. Let no one know where you are.”

20 They went in to the king in the courtyard, having left the sheet for safekeeping in the chamber of Elishama, and they reported all the words to the king. 21 The king sent Jehudi to get the sheet, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama. Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the rulers standing around the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house, with a brazier of fire in front of him. 23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut them off with the scribe’s knife and threw them into the fire on the brazier, until the whole sheet was gone in the fire on the brazier. 24 And the king and his servants who heard all these words did not seek the Lord and did not tear their clothes. [b] 25 Elnathan and Gedaliah and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the sheet. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah son of Azriel to seize Baruch and Jeremiah — but they had hidden themselves. [c]

27 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the sheet with all the words Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah: 28 “Take yourself another sheet again, and write on it all the words that were on the sheet King Jehoiakim burned.” 29 “And say, This is what the Lord says: You burned this sheet, saying, Why did you write on it, The king of Babylon will surely come in and destroy this land, and man and animal will vanish from it?” 30 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one sitting on the throne of David, and his corpse will be thrown out in the heat of the day and the frost of the night.” 31 “I will call him and his family and his servants to account, and I will bring on them and on those who live in Jerusalem and on the land of Judah all the disasters I spoke against them — and they did not listen.” 32 So Baruch took another sheet and wrote on it, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the book Jehoiakim had burned; and many more words like them were added to it.