Jeremiah 36 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this message came to Jeremiah from Yahweh:

"Get a scroll and write down every word I've spoken to you — about Israel, about Judah, and about all the nations — from the time I first spoke to you during Josiah's reign all the way to today.

Maybe when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I'm planning to bring on them, each person will turn away from the evil path they're on, and then I can forgive their wrongdoing and their failures."

So Jeremiah called for Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down on a scroll every word that Yahweh had spoken to him.

Then Jeremiah gave Baruch these instructions: "I'm restricted — I can't go to Yahweh's temple.

So you go instead, and on a day when the people are fasting, read from the scroll — the words of Yahweh that you wrote down as I dictated them — so that everyone in Yahweh's temple can hear them. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns too.

Maybe their plea for help will reach Yahweh and each person will turn away from the evil path they're on, because the anger and fury that Yahweh has announced against this people is enormous."

Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do — he read from the scroll the words of Yahweh in Yahweh's temple.

In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, a fast was proclaimed before Yahweh for all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who had come in from the towns of Judah.

Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in Yahweh's temple, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard, right at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, where all the people could hear.

When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh read from the scroll,

he went down to the royal palace, to the scribe's chamber, where all the officials were in session: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

Micaiah reported to them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll to the people.

So all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to tell Baruch, "Bring the scroll you read to the people and come here." So Baruch son of Neriah brought the scroll and came to them.

They said to him, "Sit down and read it to us." So Baruch read it to them.

When they heard all the words, they turned to each other in alarm and said to Baruch, "We absolutely have to report all these words to the king."

Then they asked Baruch, "Tell us — how did you write all these words? Did he dictate them to you?"

"Yes," Baruch answered. "He dictated every word to me, and I wrote it down in ink on the scroll."

The officials told Baruch, "Go hide — you and Jeremiah. Don't let anyone know where you are."

They stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, then went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him.

The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and Jehudi read it aloud to the king and all the officials standing around him.

It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in the brazier in front of him.

Every time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would cut that section off with a scribe's knife and toss it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll had been burned up.

The king and all his attendants who heard these words showed no fear at all. They didn't tear their clothes in grief.

Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he refused to listen to them.

Then the king ordered Jerahmeel the king's son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Yahweh had hidden them.

After the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah:

"Get another scroll and write on it all the same words that were on the first scroll — the one that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.

And about King Jehoiakim of Judah, say this: 'This is what Yahweh says: You burned that scroll and demanded, "Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon will definitely come and destroy this land and wipe out every person and animal in it?"

So this is what Yahweh says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne. His dead body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.

I will punish him, his descendants, and his officials for their wrongdoing. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah every disaster I warned them about — but they refused to listen.'"

So Jeremiah got another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, son of Neriah. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words from the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire — and many similar words were added to them.