Lectionary Calendar

Tuesday, December 24th, 2024
Christmas Eve

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JeremiahJer 35 JeremiahJer JeremiahJer 37

Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Temple

¹ In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today.³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the calamity I plan to bring upon them, each of them will turn from his wicked way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah. At the dictation of Jeremiah, Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words the LORD had spoken to Jeremiah.⁵ Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot enter the temple of the LORD;⁶ so you are to go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting, and in the hearing of the people you are to read the words of the LORD from the scroll you wrote at my dictation. Read them in the hearing of all the people of Judah who are coming from their cities.⁷ Perhaps they will bring their petition before the LORD, and each one will turn from his wicked way; for great are the anger and fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.”⁸ So Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him. In the house of the LORD he read the words of the LORD from the scroll.

⁹ Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a fast before the LORD was proclaimed to all the people of Jerusalem and all who had come there from the cities of Judah.¹⁰ From the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, which was in the upper courtyard at the opening of the New Gate of the house of the LORD, Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the hearing of all the people.

Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the King’s House

¹¹ When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll,¹² he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.¹³ And Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.¹⁴ Then all the officials sent word to Baruch through Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, saying, “Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and went to them.¹⁵ “Please sit down,” they said, “and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.¹⁶ When they had heard all these words, they turned to each other in fear and said to Baruch, “Surely we must report all these words to the king.”¹⁷ “Tell us now,” they asked Baruch, “how did you write all these words? Was it at Jeremiah’s dictation?”¹⁸ “It was at his dictation,” Baruch replied. “He recited all these words to me and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide yourselves and let no one know where you are.”

King Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll

²⁰ So the officials went to the king in the courtyard. And having stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, they reported everything to the king.²¹ The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing beside him.²² Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning before him.²³ And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire.²⁴ Yet in hearing all these words, the king and his servants did not become frightened or tear their garments.²⁵ Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.²⁶ Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, as well as Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.

Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll

²⁷ After the king had burned the scroll with the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:²⁸ “Take another scroll and rewrite on it the very words that were on the original scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah has burned.²⁹ You are to proclaim concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah that this is what the LORD says: You have burned the scroll and said, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon would surely come and destroy this land and deprive it of man and beast?’³⁰ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his body will be thrown out to be exposed to heat by day and frost by night.³¹ I will punish him and his descendants and servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the calamity about which I warned them but they did not listen.”³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and at Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.