# Jeremiah 36 📖: The King Burns the Scroll [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Jeremiah Overview]] | [[Jeremiah 35]] | [[Jeremiah 37]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll Containing the Lord’s Messages [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah:  [[#Verse 02.]] “Get a scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now.  [[#Verse 03.]] Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the disaster I intend to bring on them, they will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the wicked things they have done.” [[#Verse 04.]] So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then, Baruch wrote down in a scroll all the Lord’s words that he had told to Jeremiah as they came from his mouth. [[#Verse 05.]] Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am no longer allowed to go into the Lord’s temple.  [[#Verse 06.]] So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast in the Lord’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll.  [[#Verse 07.]] Perhaps then they will ask the Lord for mercy and will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. For the Lord has threatened to bring great anger and wrath against these people.” [[#Verse 08.]] So Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what the prophet Jeremiah told him to do. He read what the Lord had said from the scroll in the temple of the Lord.  [[#Verse 09.]] All the people living in Jerusalem and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah observed a fast before the Lord. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.  [[#Verse 10.]] At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. That room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate. There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said. [[#Verse 11.]] Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said.  [[#Verse 12.]] He went down to the chamber of the royal secretary in the king’s palace and found all the court officials in session there. Elishama the royal secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were seated there.  [[#Verse 13.]] Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.  [[#Verse 14.]] All the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch. They ordered him to tell Baruch, “Come here and bring with you the scroll you read in the hearing of the people.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them, carrying the scroll in his hand.  [[#Verse 15.]] They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch sat down and read it to them.  [[#Verse 16.]] When they had heard it all, they expressed their alarm to one another. Then they said to Baruch, “We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!”  [[#Verse 17.]] Then they asked Baruch, “How did you come to write all these words? Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?”  [[#Verse 18.]] Baruch answered, “Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.”  [[#Verse 19.]] Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. You must not let anyone know where you are.” [[#Verse 20.]] The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the royal secretary, for safekeeping. Then they went to the court and reported everything to the king.  [[#Verse 21.]] The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He went and got it from the room of Elishama, the royal secretary. Then he himself read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him.  [[#Verse 22.]] Since it was the ninth month of the year, the king was sitting in his winter quarters. A fire was burning in the firepot in front of him. [[#Verse 23.]] As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king would cut them off with a penknife and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire.  [[#Verse 24.]] Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow.  [[#Verse 25.]] The king did not even listen to Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah, who had urged him not to burn the scroll.  [[#Verse 26.]] He also ordered Jerahmeel, who was one of the royal princes, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. However, the Lord hid them. ### Baruch and Jeremiah Write Another Scroll [[#Verse 27.]] The Lord’s message came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll with the words Baruch had written down at Jeremiah’s dictation.  [[#Verse 28.]] “Get another scroll and write on it everything that was written on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.  [[#Verse 29.]] Tell King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘The Lord says, “You burned the scroll. You asked Jeremiah, ‘How dare you write in this scroll that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and wipe out all the people and animals on it?’”  [[#Verse 30.]] So the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “None of his line will occupy the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night.  [[#Verse 31.]] I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem and the people of Judah, all the disaster that I told them about and that they ignored.”’”  [[#Verse 32.]] Then Jeremiah got another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on this scroll everything that had been on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned in the fire. They also added on this scroll several other messages of the same kind. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The command to write the scroll came in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (36:1), around 605 BC. 2. Baruch son of Neriah wrote the scroll as Jeremiah dictated (36:4). 3. Jeremiah was restricted and could not go to the temple (36:5), so Baruch read it for him. 4. The scroll was read publicly on a fast day in the ninth month of the fifth year (36:9). 5. Baruch read from the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan near the New Gate (36:10). 6. A clay seal impression bearing the name "Gemaryahu son of Shaphan" was found in excavations in the City of David. 7. The king sat in his winter house with a fire burning in a brazier (36:22). The ninth month falls in November or December. 8. Jehoiakim cut off three or four columns at a time with a scribe's knife (36:23). 9. Jehoiakim did not tear his clothes (36:24), in sharp contrast to his father Josiah, who tore his robes when the Book of the Law was read (2 Kings 22:11). 10. God had the scroll rewritten with many additional words (36:32), which may help explain how the book of Jeremiah grew. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the living Word that cannot be destroyed. Jehoiakim burned the scroll, but God had it written again (36:23, 28). Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God hoped the people would hear and turn from their evil ways (36:3). What does that reveal about God's purpose in warning us? 2. The king cut up the scroll and burned it, and no one tore his clothes (36:23-24). How do people "cut out" parts of God's Word they do not like? 3. Baruch faithfully wrote and read the scroll (36:4, 8). How can you support people who proclaim God's Word? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 3: Perhaps they will hear and turn from their evil ways, and God will forgive them. - 📖 verse 23: As columns were read, the king cut them off with a knife and threw them into the fire. - 📖 verse 32: Jeremiah dictated another scroll with all the same words, and many more were added. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Matthew 24#Verse 35.|Matthew 24:35]] - My words will never pass away. - 🔗 [[1 Peter 01#Verse 24.|1 Peter 1:24-25]] - The word of the Lord endures forever. - 🔗 [[2 Kings 22#Verse 11.|2 Kings 22:11-13]] - Josiah tears his clothes at God's Word. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 40#Verse 08.|Isaiah 40:8]] - The word of our God stands forever. - 🔗 [[2 Timothy 03#Verse 16.|2 Timothy 3:16-17]] - All Scripture is inspired by God. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Jeremiah 36 - SOAP|The Gift of Grit]] ## 📂 Internal Notes