What is happening in this passage where Jeremiah’s words are written on a scroll?

In this passage, God tells Jeremiah to gather all the messages He has spoken over many years and have them written on a scroll. Jeremiah dictates, and his helper Baruch writes everything down. Because Jeremiah cannot go to the temple, Baruch goes in his place and reads the scroll aloud on a fast day so all the people can hear. The message then reaches the city leaders and finally King Jehoiakim. The story shows how God makes sure His word is clearly heard by the whole nation.

Why did God want Jeremiah’s words written down instead of only spoken?

God had Jeremiah’s words written so they would not be forgotten or brushed aside. Spoken words can be ignored or lost, but a written scroll could be read again and again by different people, including future generations. God’s purpose was that Judah would hear the warnings about coming trouble, think about their ways, and “return every man from his evil way.” The written word was meant to press the message on their hearts so they might repent and receive forgiveness instead of judgment.

Who is Baruch in this passage, and what does he do?

Baruch is Jeremiah’s scribe and helper. Jeremiah speaks all the words God has given him, and Baruch carefully writes them on a scroll with ink. When Jeremiah is not allowed to go to the temple, Baruch goes in his place and reads the scroll to the people, to the princes, and eventually his words are read before the king. Baruch shows quiet courage and obedience. He uses his skill with writing to serve God’s message, even when this puts him and Jeremiah in danger and they have to hide.

Why did King Jehoiakim cut up and burn the scroll from Jeremiah?

When the scroll is read to King Jehoiakim in his winter house, he hears only a few sections before he reacts. Instead of being humbled or afraid, he cuts the scroll piece by piece with a knife and throws it into the fire until it is all burned. He does this because he rejects God’s warning that the king of Babylon will come and destroy the land. Burning the scroll shows a hard heart that refuses correction. It is a picture of someone trying to get rid of God’s word instead of submitting to it.

What does this passage teach about God’s word when the king burns the scroll?

The burning of the scroll does not stop God’s word at all. After the king destroys it, God simply tells Jeremiah to take another scroll and write everything again, and more is added. This shows that people can attack, ignore, or try to silence God’s message, but they cannot destroy it. God’s word outlasts human kings and their anger. It also shows that when truth is rejected, God may speak even more clearly about judgment, because He is just and does not change His warnings to please people.

What does this story show about repentance and God’s mercy?

From the start, God’s purpose is that Judah might hear the warnings and turn from their evil ways so He can forgive their sins. The fast day, the public reading, and the repeated chances to listen all show God’s patience. Some princes are afraid when they hear the message, and a few even beg the king not to burn the scroll. But the king and his servants do not humble themselves. The passage shows that God is ready to forgive, yet if people harden their hearts and keep resisting, judgment will eventually come.

Why were some leaders afraid when they heard the scroll, but the king was not?

When the princes hear Baruch read the scroll, they are afraid and recognize that these are serious warnings from God. They even advise Baruch and Jeremiah to hide, knowing the king may react violently. Their fear shows at least some awareness of God’s authority. But when the message reaches Jehoiakim, he treats it with contempt, cuts it up, and burns it. This contrast shows how the same word can reach some hearts with fear and caution, while others grow more stubborn and careless toward God’s voice.

What punishment does God announce on King Jehoiakim in this passage?

After Jehoiakim burns the scroll, God sends another word to Jeremiah. God says that Jehoiakim will not have a lasting successor on David’s throne and that his dead body will lie exposed, subject to heat by day and frost by night. God also says He will punish the king, his offspring, his servants, and the people of Judah for their sins by bringing on them all the disaster He had spoken before. This shows that despising God’s word and refusing to repent brings real, serious consequences.

How can this passage about Jeremiah’s scroll apply to life today?

This passage invites us to think about how we respond when God’s word confronts us. Some in the story listen with fear and take it seriously, while the king rejects it and tries to destroy it. Today, we face a similar choice when we read Scripture or hear it taught. We can humble ourselves, pray, and turn from sin, or we can push it away. The story encourages us to treat God’s word with respect, to let it search our hearts, and to trust that turning back to God brings mercy, not harm.

Jer.36.1

Jeremiah 36:1

KJV

And 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,

Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Temple

1 And 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,

2 Take 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.

3 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.

4 Then 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.

5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord:

6 Therefore 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.

7 It 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.

8 And 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.

9 And 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.

10 Then 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.

Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Palace

11 ¶ When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord,

12 Then 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.

13 Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.

14 Therefore 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.

15 And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

16 Now 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.

17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?

18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.

19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.

Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll

20 ¶ And 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.

21 So 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.

22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

23 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.

24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

25 Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.

26 But 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.

Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll

27 ¶ Then 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,

28 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.

29 And 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?

30 Therefore 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.

31 And 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.

32 ¶ Then 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.

Cross References

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