Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, prophet to Judah before and during the Babylonian crisis.
The Scroll Written, Read, Cut, Burned, and Written Again
Jehoiakim can cut and burn the scroll, but he cannot destroy the word of the Lord; the rejected word is rewritten, expanded, and fulfilled in judgment.
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Jehoiakim can cut and burn the scroll, but he cannot destroy the word of the Lord; the rejected word is rewritten, expanded, and fulfilled in judgment.
Jeremiah 36 argues that the word of the Lord is mercifully given, publicly proclaimed, legitimately written, fearfully weighty, violently rejected, sovereignly preserved, and ultimately fulfilled. Jehoiakim's attempt to destroy the scroll is not merely disrespect for a religious document; it is rejection of the Lord's call to repentance. The burning of the scroll exposes the king's heart.
Unlike Josiah, who tore his clothes when the Book of the Law was read, Jehoiakim cuts the prophetic scroll and burns it without fear. But the Lord's word is not consumed by fire. It is rewritten and expanded, and the king who tried to erase judgment is himself judged.
Judah, Jerusalem, temple worshipers, officials, King Jehoiakim, and later readers receiving the preserved prophetic word.
The chapter begins in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah and includes a later reading in the ninth month of Jehoiakim's fifth year during a proclaimed fast in Jerusalem.
Jehoiakim can cut and burn the scroll, but he cannot destroy the word of the Lord; the rejected word is rewritten, expanded, and fulfilled in judgment.
Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, prophet to Judah before and during the Babylonian crisis.
Judah, Jerusalem, temple worshipers, officials, King Jehoiakim, and later readers receiving the preserved prophetic word.
The chapter begins in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah and includes a later reading in the ninth month of Jehoiakim's fifth year during a proclaimed fast in Jerusalem.
- The people are under national anxiety, but the king's response reveals hardened resistance rather than humble listening.
Jeremiah 36 demonstrates the preservation and authority of the prophetic word during Judah's final decline and helps explain the formation and endurance of Jeremiah's written prophecies.
The chapter moves from the Lord's command to write his words, to Baruch's public reading, to the officials' fearful response, to Jehoiakim's defiant burning of the scroll, to the Lord's judgment on the king, and finally to the rewritten and expanded scroll.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
Jeremiah 36 forms reverence for Scripture, repentance under warning, courage in proclamation, faithfulness in hidden service, and confidence in the indestructible word of the Lord.
- 1-4: The scroll gathers the prophetic warnings so Judah may hear, repent, and be forgiven.
- 5-10: Baruch reads the scroll before the people on a fast day because Jeremiah is unable to go.
- 11-19: The officials recognize the seriousness of the scroll, ask about its origin, and advise Baruch and Jeremiah to hide.
- 20-26: Jehoiakim cuts the scroll with a knife and burns it column by column, refusing repentance and seeking to arrest the Lord's servants.
- 27-32: The scroll is rewritten with all the former words and many additional words, while judgment is pronounced against Jehoiakim.
Form in passage Feminine · Singular · Construct What is this?
Sense scroll, roll, written document
Definition A scroll or rolled written document.
References Jeremiah 36:2, 4, 6, 14, 20-21, 23, 25, 27-29, 32
Lexicon scroll, roll, written document
Why it matters The scroll embodies the written prophetic word that Jehoiakim tries to destroy but the Lord preserves.
Sense to write, inscribe, record
Definition To write, inscribe, or record words.
References Jeremiah 36:2, 4, 17-18, 27-28, 32
Lexicon to write, inscribe, record
Why it matters The chapter centers on the writing, burning, rewriting, and expanding of the Lord's words.
Pastoral Entry
דָּבָר (dabar) is one of the most theologically rich words in the Hebrew Bible. The same word covers 'word' in the sense of spoken utterance, 'matter' or 'thing' in the sense of a real-world event, and 'affair' in the sense of a legal or administrative case. The range itself is significant: in Hebrew thought, a dabar is not merely a sound or a symbol but a living reality that connects speech and event, utterance and outcome.
The dabar YHWH (word of the Lord) is the primary theological use — the formula that introduces prophetic speech throughout the OT ('the word of the Lord came to me,' Jer 1:4; Ezek 1:3; etc.). The word of the Lord is not merely information about God's intentions; it is the active agency of God Himself entering history. When God speaks, things happen: Genesis 1 creates by dabar — 'God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.' The dabar of God does not describe a reality that already exists; it creates the reality it names.
Isaiah 40:8 gives the dabar its most famous statement of permanence: 'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word (dabar) of our God will stand forever.' In context, this is a promise about the reliability of God's purposes for Israel — the imperial powers and their words will pass away, but God's dabar will not. The NT reads this as the ground for the gospel's permanence (1 Pet 1:24-25 quotes Isa 40:8 for 'the living and abiding word of God' by which people are born again).
Psalm 119 is the OT's most sustained meditation on the dabar of God — 176 verses of engagement with the word, instruction, statutes, and commands. The central claim running through all 22 stanzas is that the dabar of God is the source of life, wisdom, comfort, and orientation. 'I have stored up your word (dabar) in my heart, that I might not sin against you' (Ps 119:11). The dabar is not merely read but internalized — hidden in the heart where it becomes the motivation for faithful living.
For the preacher, דָּבָר is the word that insists God speaks and that His speech does things. The sermon is not commentary on the word; it is the continued vehicle of the word's active agency in the congregation.
Sense words, matters, things
Definition Words, matters, or things spoken.
References Jeremiah 36:2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 27-28, 32
Lexicon words, matters, things
Why it matters The scroll contains the words of the Lord, not merely Jeremiah's private reflections.
Sense Baruch, 'blessed'
Definition Jeremiah's scribe, son of Neriah, who writes and reads the scroll.
References Jeremiah 36:4-5, 8, 10, 13-19, 26-27, 32
Lexicon Baruch, 'blessed'
Why it matters Baruch's faithful scribal ministry is essential to the writing, proclamation, and preservation of the word.
Sense perhaps, maybe
Definition A term expressing possibility, often in prophetic appeals toward repentance.
References Jeremiah 36:3, 7
Lexicon perhaps, maybe
Why it matters The scroll is given with a merciful purpose: perhaps Judah will hear and turn.
Pastoral Entry
שָׁמַע is among the most theologically important verbs in the Hebrew Bible because it holds together what English separates: hearing and obeying. In Hebrew, to šāmaʿ to someone is not merely to receive audio input; it is to hear in a way that results in a response. The same verb describes physical hearing (Gen 3:10: Adam heard the sound of the Lord), understanding (Gen 11:7: so that they may not understand one another's speech), and obedience (Exod 19:5: if you will indeed obey my voice).
The theological weight of this semantic fusion is immense: the God who speaks expects a šāmaʿ that moves, not merely a šāmaʿ that registers. The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 — Shĕmaʿ Yiśrāʾēl, YHWH ʾĕlōhênû YHWH ʾeḥād — is one of the most important sentences in the OT. Its imperative is šāmaʿ. Israel is summoned not merely to hear a proposition about divine unity but to hear-and-obey the reality that the Lord alone is God.
Covenant renewal in the OT is repeatedly framed as a call to shama; apostasy is frequently characterized as not hearing, not heeding, refusing to listen. The prophets diagnose Israel's failure in šāmaʿ terms: 'they have ears but do not hear' (Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2). Jesus takes this language directly: 'he who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt 11:15; 13:9) — the repeated call to šāmaʿ that characterizes prophetic address, applied to the hearing of the kingdom.
Sense to hear, listen, obey
Definition To hear attentively, listen, or obey.
References Jeremiah 36:3, 7, 11, 16, 24, 31
Lexicon to hear, listen, obey
Why it matters The scroll is written and read so the people and king may hear and respond.
Pastoral Entry
רַע (raʿ) is the primary Hebrew word for evil, but it covers a semantic range that English 'evil' does not fully capture. In Hebrew, raʿ can describe: (1) moral wickedness — the intentional doing of what God has declared wrong; (2) harm or injury — something that causes physical, social, or spiritual damage; (3) misfortune or calamity — 'evil' in the sense of disaster befalling a person; and (4) aesthetic or practical badness — something of poor quality.
The root is also the basis of the noun rāʿāh (H7451 variant, calamity/evil/affliction). The most theologically charged uses of raʿ are: (1) 'evil in the sight (eyes) of the Lord' (rāʿ bĕʿênê YHWH) — the covenant diagnostic formula that appears repeatedly in the OT, especially in Kings and Chronicles, evaluating every king's reign by whether it was covenant-faithful or covenant-breaking; (2) 'the knowledge of good and evil' (tôb wārāʿ) — the tree in Eden that represents autonomous moral judgment; and (3) the prophetic category of raʿ as the covenant breach that calls forth divine response.
The OT's understanding of evil is consistently theological and relational: raʿ is not merely unfortunate or suboptimal — it is a rupture in the covenant relationship with the God who is tôb (good). The prophets diagnose the raʿ of Israel not as a deficiency of information or civilization but as the refusal of the covenant relationship that defines what tôb means.
Sense evil, disaster, calamity
Definition Moral evil or calamity/disaster depending on context.
References Jeremiah 36:3, 7, 31
Lexicon evil, disaster, calamity
Why it matters The scroll warns of disaster the Lord plans because of Judah's wickedness.
Pastoral Entry
שׁוּב is the great turning-word of the Hebrew Bible. At its most basic it describes physical motion — someone who goes away and comes back, an army that retreats, a hand that is withdrawn. But from that material root, Scripture draws something far more weighty: the movement of the whole person away from destruction and back toward God. In the prophets especially, שׁוּב becomes the central verb of appeal, the word God uses when He calls His people to abandon the path they are on and orient themselves toward Him again. It is not merely an emotional experience or a private spiritual adjustment. It is a reorientation — a turning of direction, will, loyalty, and practice.
Two dimensions of שׁוּב must be held together. The first is departure: genuine covenantal turning involves leaving something — an idol, a pattern of injustice, a posture of self-sufficiency, a covenant broken. The prophets are clear that returning to God means turning away from what is wrong. The second is arrival: the movement is not only away from sin but toward a Person. The prophets consistently frame this as return to YHWH, to His ways, to His covenant. שׁוּב is therefore not self-reform. It is relational re-entry — coming home to the God who has not moved.
What makes this word theologically irreplaceable is the exile context in which it burns most brightly. Israel's displacement from the land is never presented simply as a geopolitical catastrophe. It is the spatial consequence of a spiritual direction. The nation had turned away from God, and the curses of the covenant followed. But through the prophets, God calls שׁוּב — not simply as a demand, but as the announcement that return is still possible, that the door has not closed, that the God who judged is also the God who restores.
In pastoral use, שׁוּב must not be reduced to a single sermon moment or an altar-call transaction. Its roughly 1,073 occurrences span the full range of Israelite life — narrative, law, wisdom, prophecy, and prayer — which means the turn it names can be initial, repeated, communal, individual, urgent, and ongoing. The NT counterpart G3340 metanoeō carries forward this same dual structure: a change of mind that issues in a changed direction. To understand שׁוּב is to understand why biblical repentance is neither self-flagellation nor superficial remorse. It is the movement of a person, or a people, who turn from where they were headed and walk back toward the God who has been waiting.
Form in passage Qal · Imperfect · 3rd Person · Masculine · Plural What is this?
Sense to turn, return, repent
Definition To turn back, return, or repent.
References Jeremiah 36:3, 7
Lexicon to turn, return, repent
Why it matters The written warning aims at Judah turning from wicked ways.
Sense evil way, wicked pattern of life
Definition A wicked way, path, or pattern of conduct.
References Jeremiah 36:3, 7
Lexicon evil way, wicked pattern of life
Why it matters The scroll calls Judah not merely to feel regret but to turn from wicked patterns.
Pastoral Entry
Salach is a principal OT verb for divine forgiveness. Its pastoral weight is that Scripture uses it for God's pardoning act rather than ordinary human pardon. When Moses prays 'Forgive the iniquity of this people' (Num 14:19), the petition is directed to the One who can answer it. When Jeremiah promises the new covenant declaration, 'I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more' (Jer 31:34), this same divine action stands at the heart of the covenant promise.
Ultimate pardon from sin is God's prerogative; human forgiveness is real but derivative, not the divine act of canceling guilt before God. The NT claim that Jesus forgives sins (Mark 2:5-7) is therefore theologically weighty: the scribes recognize that forgiveness belongs to God's domain, and the question becomes whether Jesus is blaspheming or revealing God's own authority in person.
Sense to forgive, pardon
Definition To forgive or pardon sin.
References Jeremiah 36:3
Lexicon to forgive, pardon
Why it matters The written warning is merciful, holding out forgiveness of wickedness and sin.
Pastoral Entry
עָוֺן is the OT's word for sin as a condition, not just an act. The bent-root behind it — עָוָה, to twist, to make crooked — describes what sustained sin does to a person: it warps the moral shape, bends the character, creates a distortion that becomes structural. This is different from committing an error (חַטָּאת) or staging a rebellion (פֶּשַׁע). עָוֺן is the accumulated state of someone whose life has been bent away from YHWH's design.
The word's range includes the guilt that attaches to that bent condition and even the punishment the condition deserves — making it the most comprehensive of the three primary sin-words. Exod 34:7 places עָוֺן at the head of YHWH's forgiveness declaration: 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.' That ordering matters: the hardest category — the deeply bent condition — leads the list of what YHWH forgives.
Isa 53:6 is the pastoral summit: 'YHWH has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' The Servant does not merely absorb our acts; he bears our עָוֺן — the accumulated, twisted, bent moral state of a whole people. This is why the atonement is genuinely good news: it is not superficial pardon for surface failures but the bearing of the deep-root condition that makes every other sin possible.
Sense iniquity, guilt, wickedness
Definition Iniquity, guilt, or the burden of wrongdoing.
References Jeremiah 36:3
Lexicon iniquity, guilt, wickedness
Why it matters The Lord offers forgiveness of the guilt that has brought Judah under judgment.
Pastoral Entry
חַטָּאָה is the most theologically dense word in the Hebrew sin vocabulary. The local OT index currently counts about 299 uses, and the word carries a range that no single English translation can capture: it names an offense, habitual sinfulness, the penalty for sin, and the sacrifice that addresses it. BDB summarizes the core semantic as 'a missing of the mark' — the verb חָטָא (H2398) means to miss, to go wrong, to deviate from the path — and the noun form accumulates around that root all the weight of the OT's understanding of what sin is, what it costs, and what it requires.
The most striking feature of חַטָּאָה is that the same word can refer both to the sin and to the sin offering. In Leviticus, the חַטָּאָה is the specific sacrifice prescribed for unintentional sins — the animal whose blood addresses what the worshiper's act has disrupted. This semantic double-occupancy is not an accident of vocabulary; it is a profound theological statement.
The word that names the problem and the word that names the remedy are the same word. The same word field holds the diagnosis and the appointed remedy. This pattern reaches its fulfillment in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where Paul says God made Christ 'to be sin (ἁμαρτίαν, the Greek equivalent) for us' — the one who had no sin became the חַטָּאָה, the sin offering. The OT vocabulary prepares the canonical connection between the named problem and the appointed remedy.
For the preacher, חַטָּאָה is the word that insists sin is never merely a behavior pattern or a disposition. It is an objective disruption that requires an objective remedy — the breach calls for the offering. The 299 occurrences spread across Torah, prophets, writings, and poetry; no part of the Hebrew Bible is untouched by the reality this word names.
Sense sin, offense, guilt
Definition Sin, offense, or guilt before God.
References Jeremiah 36:3
Lexicon sin, offense, guilt
Why it matters Forgiveness of sin is the merciful goal of the warning scroll.
Form in passage Qal · Participle passive What is this?
Sense restrained, confined, restricted
Definition Held back, restrained, or restricted from movement.
References Jeremiah 36:5
Lexicon restrained, confined, restricted
Why it matters Jeremiah's restriction does not prevent the word from being read publicly through Baruch.
Pastoral Entry
קָרָא is the great calling word of the Hebrew Bible — the verb that sets God in motion toward people and people in motion toward God. It carries a range of meanings that can seem almost too wide at first: to call out, to name, to summon, to proclaim, to invite, to cry aloud, to read. But behind this breadth lies a single animating reality: the power and intimacy of a voice that addresses by name, that establishes relationship by speaking, and that makes a claim on whoever is addressed.
When God calls, something is always at stake. He calls out the light and the darkness to receive their names. He calls Abraham out of Ur and gives him a new identity. He calls Moses from a burning bush and defines the rest of his life in that exchange. He calls Israel his son in the exodus and declares in the same breath that that calling came before all the people's straying. When the prophets use קָרָא for God's proclaiming, what is proclaimed always carries the weight of God's own authority and character — his mercy, his warning, his name.
When human beings call to God, קָרָא becomes the language of prayer and dependence. The Psalms return again and again to this word: calling on the name of the Lord is the posture of the righteous, the lifeline of the afflicted, the praise of the delivered. To call on God is not merely to petition him. It is to acknowledge his name, to declare who he is, and to place oneself in his presence as one who has no other resource.
The word also carries a distinct public, proclamatory sense. Prophets proclaim; heralds cry out; the reading of the law in the assembly is קָרָא. In these uses the word marks the moment when God's word enters public space and demands a response. Scripture read aloud, commandments declared, warnings issued, grace announced — all of this belongs to the range of קָרָא.
The naming dimension of קָרָא is not a peripheral use but a theological statement: to name something is to call it into its identity. God's naming of things and people is an act of sovereign love, establishing what something is and who someone belongs to. When God says 'I have called you by name; you are mine' (Isaiah 43:1), all three senses of the word converge at once — the personal address, the naming, and the act of claiming as his own.
Sense to read, call, proclaim
Definition To call out, read aloud, or proclaim.
References Jeremiah 36:6, 8, 10, 13-15, 21, 23
Lexicon to read, call, proclaim
Why it matters The scroll must be read aloud so the people, officials, and king hear the Lord's word.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Pastoral Entry
צוֹם (ṣôm) is the noun for a fast — the practice of abstaining from food as a deliberate religious act, typically accompanied by prayer, lamentation, and the physical expression of repentance or urgent need. The corresponding verb is ṣûm (H6684, to fast). In the OT, fasting is regularly set within the context of the covenant relationship: it is an act of turning toward God with the whole body, not merely with the voice, when the ordinary rhythms of life cannot continue as usual.
The most dramatic ṣôm in the Hebrew Bible occurs in Jonah 3:5-7: when Jonah's proclamation reaches Nineveh, the people believed God, 'proclaimed a fast (ṣôm), and put on sackcloth.' Then the king decreed that both humans and animals should fast and cry out to God. The Ninevite ṣôm is striking in its scope (an entire pagan city, from the greatest to the least, including livestock) and in its theological seriousness — the king explicitly grounds the fast in the hope that God 'may turn and relent' (Jon 3:9).
The ṣôm is not mere ritual compliance but an expression of genuine corporate conviction about the divine character. In the broader OT, ṣôm is associated with grief (2 Sam 1:12, fasting at the death of Saul and Jonathan), military crisis (Judg 20:26, fasting before battle), and penitence (1 Sam 7:6, Israel fasting at Mizpah as an act of confession). The prophets complicate the picture significantly: Isaiah 58 challenges fasting that is externally performed without internal transformation, and Zechariah 7-8 asks whether the fasts of the exile were genuinely for God or for themselves.
These prophetic critiques do not abolish fasting but insist on its integrity.
Form in passage Masculine · Singular · Absolute What is this?
Sense fast, abstention from food
Definition A fast, often connected with petition, mourning, or crisis.
References Jeremiah 36:6, 9
Lexicon fast, abstention from food
Why it matters The scroll is read on a fast day, exposing the difference between outward religious posture and true repentance.
Sense plea, supplication, petition for mercy
Definition A plea or supplication for favor or mercy.
References Jeremiah 36:7
Lexicon plea, supplication, petition for mercy
Why it matters Jeremiah hopes the people will bring their petitions before the Lord and turn from wicked ways.
Pastoral Entry
The Hebrew word אַף begins with the body. Its primary sense is the nostril — the flared, breathing organ that the ancients identified with the surge of emotion. From this physical root, the word stretches in two directions: toward the face as a whole (representing the full presence of a person) and toward the hot-breathed passion of anger. This dual range is not coincidence; it reflects the embodied nature of biblical emotion. When Scripture speaks of the אַף of God burning against a people, it is not describing an abstraction. It is describing the full-presence response of a holy God to covenantal betrayal — the divine face turned toward the rebellious with consuming seriousness.
The theology of divine אַף is framed by two truths held in permanent tension. First, God's anger is real. It is not metaphor or accommodation — it is the necessary reaction of infinite holiness encountering human sin. The prophets insist on this. Lamentations opens with the burning אַף of Yahweh over Jerusalem. The Psalms cry out for mercy precisely because divine wrath is genuine and just. Second — and this is the decisive canonical movement — God describes himself as אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם, literally long-nostriled, slow to anger. The image is vivid: God does not flare quickly. Patience is built into the very description of his character as announced at Sinai, repeated at the mercy seat, echoed by Moses in the wilderness, confirmed by the prophets, and quoted in the New Testament's portrait of divine forbearance.
For the preacher, אַף is the word that keeps divine mercy from dissolving into indifference. God is slow to anger — but he does get angry. His patience is real, and so is his holiness. The same word that describes the burning of judgment also describes the nostrils that breathe out life and the face that turns toward the humble in grace. To preach אַף well is to preach a God who takes sin seriously enough to be moved by it, and who loves sinners enough to hold his anger while he calls them back.
Sense anger, wrath
Definition Anger or wrath, often divine judgment against sin.
References Jeremiah 36:7
Lexicon anger, wrath
Why it matters The Lord's anger against Judah is great, making repentance urgent.
Pastoral Entry
חֵמָה is the heat of divine wrath — not irritability or loss of control, but the burning intensity of God's settled moral response to sin. When the prophets announce that God will pour out His חֵמָה (Ezek 5:15; 14:19; Isa 42:25), they are describing a fire that is proportionate, deserved, and entirely consistent with His character. The word matters because a God who is not genuinely angry about sin would not be trustworthy.
A judge who is indifferent to injustice is not kind — he is corrupt. חֵמָה is the language of a covenant God who takes both His people and His holiness seriously enough to burn against the betrayal of both. The pastoral danger is in both directions: minimizing divine wrath into mere disappointment, or detaching it from God's covenant love so it becomes arbitrary terror.
The OT holds חֵמָה and חֶסֶד in the same God — the same One whose loyal love (H2617) is also the One whose fury burns against what destroys what He loves.
Sense wrath, fury, heat
Definition Wrath, fury, or heated anger.
References Jeremiah 36:7
Lexicon wrath, fury, heat
Why it matters The scroll warns of the Lord's wrath so Judah may repent.
Form in passage Qal · Perfect · 3rd Person · Common · Plural What is this?
Sense to fear, dread, tremble
Definition To fear or tremble with dread.
References Jeremiah 36:16, 24
Lexicon to fear, dread, tremble
Why it matters The officials fear when they hear the scroll, unlike Jehoiakim who shows no fear.
Sense ink
Definition Writing ink used by a scribe.
References Jeremiah 36:18
Lexicon ink
Why it matters The mention of ink gives concrete scribal detail and confirms the written production process.
Form in passage Niphal · Sequential imperfect · 2nd Person · Masculine · Singular What is this?
Sense to hide, conceal, shelter
Definition To hide or conceal from danger.
References Jeremiah 36:19, 26
Lexicon to hide, conceal, shelter
Why it matters The officials urge Jeremiah and Baruch to hide, and the Lord hides them from arrest.
Sense scribe's knife, writing knife
Definition A knife used by scribes, likely for cutting or preparing writing material.
References Jeremiah 36:23
Lexicon scribe's knife, writing knife
Why it matters Jehoiakim uses a scribal tool meant to serve writing as an instrument to destroy the scroll.
Sense firepot, brazier, hearth
Definition A firepot or brazier used for warmth.
References Jeremiah 36:22-23
Lexicon firepot, brazier, hearth
Why it matters The winter fire becomes the place where the king symbolically rejects the Lord's word.
Form in passage Qal · Perfect · 3rd Person · Common · Plural What is this?
Sense to tear, rend
Definition To tear, often garments in mourning or repentance.
References Jeremiah 36:24
Lexicon to tear, rend
Why it matters Jehoiakim and his attendants do not tear their garments, showing no repentance before the word.
Form in passage Hophal · Participle passive What is this?
Sense corpse thrown out, body exposed
Definition A dead body cast out and left exposed, a sign of shameful judgment.
References Jeremiah 36:30
Lexicon corpse thrown out, body exposed
Why it matters Jehoiakim's contempt for the word brings dishonor upon his own body.
Form in passage Niphal · Perfect · 3rd Person · Masculine · Singular What is this?
Sense to add, increase, do again
Definition To add or increase.
References Jeremiah 36:32
Lexicon to add, increase, do again
Why it matters Many similar words are added to the rewritten scroll, showing that rejection expands rather than silences the word.
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
| v.1 | H1961הָיָהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.12 | H3427יָשַׁבQal · Participle |
| v.13 | H8085שָׁמַעQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.14 | H7121קָרָאQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.15 | H3427יָשַׁבQal · Imperative · Imperative |
| v.16 | H6342פָּחַדQal · Perfect · IndicativeH5046נָגַדHiphil · Infinitive absoluteH5046נָגַדHiphil · Imperfect · Indicative/cohortative |
| v.17 | H7592שָׁאַלQal · Perfect · IndicativeH5046נָגַדHiphil · Imperative · ImperativeH3789כָּתַבQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.18 | H7121קָרָאQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH3789כָּתַבQal · Participle |
| v.19 | H3212יָלַךְQal · Imperative · ImperativeH5641סָתַרNiphal · Imperative · ImperativeH3045יָדַעQal · Imperfect · Jussive |
| v.2 | H3947לָקַחQal · Imperative · ImperativeH1696דָבַרPiel · Perfect · IndicativeH1696דָבַרPiel · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.20 | H6485פָּקַדHiphil · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.22 | H3427יָשַׁבQal · ParticipleH1197בָּעַרPual · Participle passive |
| v.23 | H8552תָּמַםQal · Infinitive construct |
| v.24 | H6342פָּחַדQal · Perfect · IndicativeH7167קָרַעQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.25 | H6293פָּגַעHiphil · Perfect · IndicativeH8313שָׂרַףQal · Infinitive constructH8085שָׁמַעQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.27 | H8313שָׂרַףQal · Infinitive constructH3789כָּתַבQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.28 | H7725שׁוּבQal · Imperative · ImperativeH3947לָקַחQal · Imperative · ImperativeH1961הָיָהQal · Perfect · IndicativeH8313שָׂרַףQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.29 | H559אָמַרQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH559אָמַרQal · Perfect · IndicativeH8313שָׂרַףQal · Perfect · IndicativeH3789כָּתַבQal · Perfect · IndicativeH935בּוֹאQal · Infinitive absoluteH935בּוֹאQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.3 | H8085שָׁמַעQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH2803חָשַׁבQal · ParticipleH7725שׁוּבQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.30 | H559אָמַרQal · Perfect · IndicativeH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH3427יָשַׁבQal · ParticipleH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH7993שָׁלַךְHophal · Participle passive |
| v.31 | H3427יָשַׁבQal · ParticipleH1696דָבַרPiel · Perfect · IndicativeH8085שָׁמַעQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.32 | H3947לָקַחQal · Perfect · IndicativeH8313שָׂרַףQal · Perfect · IndicativeH3254יָסַףNiphal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.4 | H1696דָבַרPiel · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.5 | H6113עָצָרQal · Participle passiveH3201יָכֹלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/cohortative |
| v.6 | H3789כָּתַבQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.7 | H5307נָפַלQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH1696דָבַרPiel · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.9 | H7121קָרָאQal · Perfect · Indicative |
Aspect in Hebrew is grammatical form, not tense. Perfect = completed action; Imperfect = incomplete/ongoing. Stem modifies action type (Qal=simple, Niphal=passive, Piel=intensive).
Morphology: OSHB WLC (Open Scriptures, CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible TEHMC (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0)
Theological Argument
Jeremiah 36 argues that the word of the Lord is mercifully given, publicly proclaimed, legitimately written, fearfully weighty, violently rejected, sovereignly preserved, and ultimately fulfilled. Jehoiakim's attempt to destroy the scroll is not merely disrespect for a religious document; it is rejection of the Lord's call to repentance. The burning of the scroll exposes the king's heart.
Unlike Josiah, who tore his clothes when the Book of the Law was read, Jehoiakim cuts the prophetic scroll and burns it without fear. But the Lord's word is not consumed by fire. It is rewritten and expanded, and the king who tried to erase judgment is himself judged.
From written warning, to public reading, to official fear, to royal rejection, to divine preservation and judgment.
- 1.The written prophetic word is given as mercy before judgment.
- 2.Restriction of the messenger does not restrict the message.
- 3.The LORD's word demands fear, repentance, and response.
- 4.Jehoiakim's burning of the scroll is rebellion against the LORD.
- 5.Human hostility cannot destroy God's word.
- 6.Rejecting the word does not cancel judgment; it intensifies accountability.
- 7.The LORD protects his servants until their work is complete.
Theological Focus
- The Written Word of the Lord
- Merciful Warning
- Repentance
- Public Proclamation
- Fear of the Word
- Royal Rebellion
- Preservation of the Word
- Judgment on Word-Rejection
- Divine Protection
- Authority of Scripture
- Inspiration and Prophetic Revelation
- Preservation of God's Word
- Forgiveness
- Human Hardness
- Judgment
- Providence
- Christ the Word
Covenant Significance
Jeremiah 36 is a covenant-warning chapter. The Lord gives Judah a written witness of his words so they may turn from wicked ways and receive forgiveness. The scroll functions like a covenant lawsuit document, summarizing accusations and announced judgments. Jehoiakim's burning of it shows royal contempt for covenant authority and sets him in contrast to covenant humility.
- The scroll gathers the Lord's warnings against Israel, Judah, and the nations.
- The Lord desires that Judah turn from wicked ways.
- The Lord holds out forgiveness of wickedness and sin if the people turn.
- The written scroll becomes a witness to Judah's hearing and response.
- Jehoiakim rejects the Lord's covenant word by cutting and burning the scroll.
- Disaster comes because king and people refuse to listen.
- The Lord preserves and expands his written word despite royal opposition.
Canonical Connections
Jehoiakim can cut and burn the scroll, but he cannot destroy the word of the Lord; the rejected word is rewritten, expanded, and fulfilled in judgment.
Canon-Wide Connections
Cross-reference data: OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Jeremiah 36 clarifies the gospel by showing that God's warnings are merciful. The scroll was written so Judah might hear, turn from wicked ways, and be forgiven. Jehoiakim's response shows the sinful heart's hostility to the word that exposes it. The gospel announces that the same God whose word exposes sin also provides forgiveness through Christ. The proper response to the word is not to cut away the parts that offend us, but to repent, believe, and receive the mercy God offers.
Christ, the final Word, was rejected by sinful rulers, yet through that rejection God accomplished salvation.
Primary Emphasis
Jeremiah 36 contributes to Christ-centered theology by displaying the rejection and preservation of God's word. Jehoiakim's burning of the scroll anticipates the broader biblical pattern in which rulers and sinners resist the word of God, yet cannot destroy it. Christ is the incarnate Word who is rejected by leaders, handed over, and killed, yet rises again, proving that human rejection cannot nullify God's revelation or saving purpose.
The rewritten scroll also points to the enduring witness of Scripture, which testifies to Christ and cannot be broken. The chapter prepares readers to see that the true response to God's word is not cutting and burning, but trembling, repentance, faith, and obedience.
Chapter Contribution
Jeremiah 36 argues that the word of the Lord is mercifully given, publicly proclaimed, legitimately written, fearfully weighty, violently rejected, sovereignly preserved, and ultimately fulfilled. Jehoiakim's attempt to destroy the scroll is not merely disrespect for a religious document; it is rejection of the Lord's call to repentance. The burning of the scroll exposes the king's heart.
Unlike Josiah, who tore his clothes when the Book of the Law was read, Jehoiakim cuts the prophetic scroll and burns it without fear. But the Lord's word is not consumed by fire. It is rewritten and expanded, and the king who tried to erase judgment is himself judged.
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
Trace remnant preservation, covenant continuity, and mercy under judgment across Scripture.
Study temple presence, worship, corruption, judgment, and renewal across Scripture.
The prophetic message carries divine authority that confronts both the people and their leaders.
God’s word remains authoritative even when rejected or destroyed by human leaders.
The proclamation of judgment is intended to awaken the hearers to their need for repentance.
Rejecting God’s revealed word invites judgment upon those who resist it.
Even when judgment is near, God continues to offer forgiveness to those who turn to Him.
God protects His servants as they carry out His prophetic mission.
God communicates His will through prophetic words that are preserved in written form.
Leaders and citizens alike are responsible for responding to God’s revealed word.
Human beings may deliberately reject God’s revelation despite clear warning.
God ensures that His message continues to be proclaimed even when people attempt to destroy it.
The scroll contains the words of the Lord and carries divine authority over people, officials, and king.
Jeremiah dictates the words the Lord spoke, and Baruch writes them faithfully.
The burned scroll is rewritten with all former words and many additional words.
The scroll is written so Judah may hear, turn from wicked ways, and be forgiven.
The Lord holds out forgiveness of wickedness and sin through his merciful warning.
Jehoiakim hears the word and responds with contempt rather than fear.
Jehoiakim's rejection brings judgment on him, his descendants, officials, and Jerusalem.
The Lord hides Jeremiah and Baruch from royal arrest.
The chapter canonically contributes to the theme of God's word rejected yet vindicated, fulfilled in Christ the incarnate Word.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
- Jeremiah 36 forms reverence for Scripture, repentance under warning, courage in proclamation, faithfulness in hidden service, and confidence in the indestructible word of the Lord.
Jeremiah 36 forms reverence for Scripture, repentance under warning, courage in proclamation, faithfulness in hidden service, and confidence in the indestructible word of the Lord.
- Reverent reading - Approach Scripture as the living word of the Lord, not as material to manage.
- Whole-scroll submission - Submit to the full counsel of God's word, including hard warnings.
- Repentant response - Let warning move you to turn from wicked ways and seek forgiveness.
- Public proclamation - Read and declare God's word faithfully in gathered settings.
- Scribal faithfulness - Honor the quiet labor of recording, preserving, copying, teaching, and transmitting truth.
- Courage under opposition - Continue serving the word when powerful people reject it.
- Christ-centered confidence - Rest in Christ, the Word who was rejected and vindicated, and in the Scripture that testifies to him.
- Jeremiah 36 warns against despising the word of God, hearing without repentance, using power to silence truth, and assuming that destroying the visible form of the word removes accountability.
- Do not mistake access to God's word for submission to God's word.
- Do not cut away the parts of Scripture that confront you.
- Do not think rejecting warning cancels judgment.
- Do not confuse religious fasting with repentance.
- Do not attack God's servants because you hate God's word.
- Do not lose the fear of the Lord's word.
- Do not assume the word is fragile because its physical form can be damaged.
- The chapter is mainly about the history of book production. - The scribal process matters, but the chapter's central concern is the authority, rejection, preservation, and fulfillment of the Lord's word.
- Jehoiakim destroyed Jeremiah's prophecy by burning the scroll. - The Lord commands the scroll to be written again with all the former words and many similar words added.
- The scroll was written only to condemn Judah. - The Lord says it was written so Judah might hear, turn, and be forgiven.
- The officials fully repent. - They fear and act more reverently than the king, but the chapter does not present full national repentance.
- Jehoiakim's burning was impulsive and insignificant. - The act is a deliberate royal rejection of the written word and brings severe judgment.
- The Lord's word depends on human protection. - Human servants participate in writing and preserving, but the Lord himself ensures the word's endurance.
- Religious occasions automatically produce repentance. - The reading happens on a fast day, yet the king remains hardened.
- Do I receive God's warnings as mercy or resent them as interruption?
- What parts of God's word am I tempted to cut away, ignore, or soften?
- Do I tremble before Scripture, or have I become casual toward it?
- Does religious activity, such as fasting or worship attendance, actually produce repentance in me?
- How do I respond when God's word confronts my leadership, comfort, or control?
- Am I willing to serve the word faithfully like Baruch, even when I am not the central figure?
- How does Christ, the rejected and risen Word, strengthen my confidence that God's word cannot fail?
- Preach Jeremiah 36 as a warning and comfort: the word may be rejected by rulers, but it cannot be destroyed. The preacher's task is faithful proclamation, not control of response.
- Use the chapter to teach the authority and preservation of God's written word without reducing it to abstract doctrine. The narrative shows preservation under attack.
- The scroll's purpose was repentance and forgiveness. Warnings should be preached with the urgency of mercy before judgment.
- Jehoiakim is a warning to leaders who use authority to silence truth rather than submit to it.
- Baruch models faithful hidden service. He writes, carries, reads, suffers danger, and helps preserve the word.
- Help people recognize ways they symbolically cut and burn Scripture by avoiding passages that expose sin.
- Public reading of Scripture must not become mere ritual. The gathered people must hear with repentance and faith.
- Move from the merciful purpose of the scroll to Christ, through whom forgiveness of wickedness and sin is secured.
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
The chapter moves from the Lord's command to write his words, to Baruch's public reading, to the officials' fearful response, to Jehoiakim's defiant burning of the scroll, to the Lord's judgment on the king, and finally to the rewritten and expanded scroll.
Jeremiah 36 is a covenant-warning chapter. The Lord gives Judah a written witness of his words so they may turn from wicked ways and receive forgiveness. The scroll functions like a covenant lawsuit document, summarizing accusations and announced judgments. Jehoiakim's burning of it shows royal contempt for covenant authority and sets him in contrast to covenant humility.
Jeremiah 36 clarifies the gospel by showing that God's warnings are merciful. The scroll was written so Judah might hear, turn from wicked ways, and be forgiven. Jehoiakim's response shows the sinful heart's hostility to the word that exposes it. The gospel announces that the same God whose word exposes sin also provides forgiveness through Christ. The proper response to the word is not to cut away the parts that offend us, but to repent, believe, and receive the mercy God offers.
Christ, the final Word, was rejected by sinful rulers, yet through that rejection God accomplished salvation.
Focus Points
- The Written Word of the Lord
- Merciful Warning
- Repentance
- Public Proclamation
- Fear of the Word
- Royal Rebellion
- Preservation of the Word
- Judgment on Word-Rejection
- Divine Protection
- Authority of Scripture
- Inspiration and Prophetic Revelation
- Preservation of God's Word
- Forgiveness
- Human Hardness
- Judgment
- Providence
- Christ the Word
Passages
Chapter opening: Jeremiah 36:1-8
Jer 36:4-7 Jeremiah carries out the divine command by making Baruch write down on a book-roll all the words of the Lord, out of his mouth ('מפּי , i. e. , at the dictation of Jeremiah); and since he himself is prevented from getting to the house of the Lord, he bids him read the words he had written down in the ears of the people in the temple on the fast-day, at the same time expressing the hope, Jer 36:7 : "Perhaps their supplication will fall down before the Lord, and they will return each one from his wicked way; for great is the wrath and the anger which the Lord hath expressed concerning this people."
Baruch, who is mentioned so early as Jer 32:12. as the attendant of the prophet, was, according to the passage now before us, his amanuensis, and executed his commissions. אני עצוּר, according to Jer 33:1 and Jer 39:15, might mean, "I am in prison;" but this does not accord with the request of the princes, Jer 36:19, that Jeremiah should hide himself. Moreover, עצוּר does not mean "seized, captus ," but "stopped, restrained, hindered;" see on Neh 6:10.
The cause of hindrance is not mentioned, as being away from the purpose of the narrative. "To read in the roll in the ears of the people," i. e. , to read to the people out of the book. בּיום צום does not mean "on any fast-day whatever," but, "on the fast-day." The article is omitted because there was no need for defining the fast-day more exactly. The special fast-day mentioned in Jer 36:9 is intended.
'תּפּל תּחנּתם וגו, "their supplication will fall down before the Lord," i. e. , reach unto God, as if it were laid before His feet. נפל is transferred from the posture of the suppliant - his falling down before God - to his supplication. Hence, in Hiphil, to make the supplication fall down before the Lord is equivalent to laying the request at His feet; Jer 38:26; Jer 42:9; Dan 9:18, Dan 9:20.
If the supplication actually comes before God, it is also heard and finds success. This success is pointed out in 'וישׁבוּ וגו, "that they may repent." If man, in a repentant spirit, supplicates God for grace, God grants him power for conversion. But the return of the people from their wicked way is indispensable, because the wrath which God has expressed concerning it is great, i.
e. , because God has threatened a heavy judgment of wrath.
Jer 36:4-7 Jeremiah carries out the divine command by making Baruch write down on a book-roll all the words of the Lord, out of his mouth ('מפּי , i. e. , at the dictation of Jeremiah); and since he himself is prevented from getting to the house of the Lord, he bids him read the words he had written down in the ears of the people in the temple on the fast-day, at the same time expressing the hope, Jer 36:7 : "Perhaps their supplication will fall down before the Lord, and they will return each one from his wicked way; for great is the wrath and the anger which the Lord hath expressed concerning this people."
Baruch, who is mentioned so early as Jer 32:12. as the attendant of the prophet, was, according to the passage now before us, his amanuensis, and executed his commissions. אני עצוּר, according to Jer 33:1 and Jer 39:15, might mean, "I am in prison;" but this does not accord with the request of the princes, Jer 36:19, that Jeremiah should hide himself. Moreover, עצוּר does not mean "seized, captus ," but "stopped, restrained, hindered;" see on Neh 6:10.
The cause of hindrance is not mentioned, as being away from the purpose of the narrative. "To read in the roll in the ears of the people," i. e. , to read to the people out of the book. בּיום צום does not mean "on any fast-day whatever," but, "on the fast-day." The article is omitted because there was no need for defining the fast-day more exactly. The special fast-day mentioned in Jer 36:9 is intended.
'תּפּל תּחנּתם וגו, "their supplication will fall down before the Lord," i. e. , reach unto God, as if it were laid before His feet. נפל is transferred from the posture of the suppliant - his falling down before God - to his supplication. Hence, in Hiphil, to make the supplication fall down before the Lord is equivalent to laying the request at His feet; Jer 38:26; Jer 42:9; Dan 9:18, Dan 9:20.
If the supplication actually comes before God, it is also heard and finds success. This success is pointed out in 'וישׁבוּ וגו, "that they may repent." If man, in a repentant spirit, supplicates God for grace, God grants him power for conversion. But the return of the people from their wicked way is indispensable, because the wrath which God has expressed concerning it is great, i.
e. , because God has threatened a heavy judgment of wrath.
Jer 36:8 Baruch executes his commission.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:9-19 The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer 36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא צום, to call, declare, appoint a fast ; cf. 1Ki 21:9, 1Ki 21:12; 2Ch 20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of the country might seem to have called the fast.
But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא צום seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression.
The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf.
Jer 36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra , p. 316f.
Jer 36:20 The reading of the book before the king . - Jer 36:20. The princes betook themselves to the king חצרה, into the inner fore-court (leaving the book-roll in the chamber of the secretary of state), and gave him an account of the matter. חצר is the inner court of the palace, in which the royal dwelling-apartments are situated. הפקיד, to entrust a thing or person to any one (Jer 40:7), hence to deposit, preserve, Isa 10:28.
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 36:21-22 Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before himself and the assembled princes. עמד מעל, to stand over, since the one who is standing before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen 18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer 36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.
e. , in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i. e. , during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf.
Keil’s Bibl. Archäol . ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d .
Jer 37:1-5 The account of what befell Jeremiah and what he did during the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, until the taking of the city, is introduced, Jer 37:1 and Jer 37:2, with the general remark that Zedekiah - whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah (on which name see on Jer 22:24) - when he became king, did not listen to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah, neither himself, nor his servants (officers), nor the people of the land (the population of Judah). Then follows, Jer 37:3-10, a declaration of the prophet regarding the issue of the siege, which he sent to the king by the messengers who were to beseech him for his intercession with the Lord.
Jer 37:3-5. The occasion of this declaration was the following: Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah two of his chief officers, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (see on Jer 38:1), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest (see Jer 21:1 and Jer 29:25), with this charge: "Pray now for us to Jahveh our God." This message was sent to Jeremiah while he still went in and out among the people, and had not yet been put in prison (כּליא, Jer 37:4 and Jer 52:31, an unusual form for כּלא, Jer 37:15 and Jer 37:18, for which the Qeri would have us in both instances read כּלוּא); the army of Pharaoh (Hophra, Jer 44:30), too, had marched out of Egypt to oppose the Chaldeans; and the latter, when they heard the report of them (שׁמעם, the news of their approach), had withdrawn from Jerusalem (עלה מעל, see on Jer 21:2), viz.
, in order to repulse the Egyptians. Both of these circumstances are mentioned for the purpose of giving a clear view of the state of things: ( a ) Jeremiah’s freedom to go in and out, not to prepare us for his imprisonment afterwards, but to explain the reason why the king sent two chief officers of the realm to him, whereas, after his imprisonment, he caused him to be brought (cf.
Jer 37:17 with Jer 38:14); and ( b ) the approach of the Egyptians joined with the raising of the siege, because this event seemed to afford some hope that the city would be saved. - This occurrence, consequently, falls within a later period than that mentioned in Jer 21:1-14.
Jer 37:1-5 The account of what befell Jeremiah and what he did during the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, until the taking of the city, is introduced, Jer 37:1 and Jer 37:2, with the general remark that Zedekiah - whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah (on which name see on Jer 22:24) - when he became king, did not listen to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah, neither himself, nor his servants (officers), nor the people of the land (the population of Judah). Then follows, Jer 37:3-10, a declaration of the prophet regarding the issue of the siege, which he sent to the king by the messengers who were to beseech him for his intercession with the Lord.
Jer 37:3-5. The occasion of this declaration was the following: Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah two of his chief officers, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (see on Jer 38:1), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest (see Jer 21:1 and Jer 29:25), with this charge: "Pray now for us to Jahveh our God." This message was sent to Jeremiah while he still went in and out among the people, and had not yet been put in prison (כּליא, Jer 37:4 and Jer 52:31, an unusual form for כּלא, Jer 37:15 and Jer 37:18, for which the Qeri would have us in both instances read כּלוּא); the army of Pharaoh (Hophra, Jer 44:30), too, had marched out of Egypt to oppose the Chaldeans; and the latter, when they heard the report of them (שׁמעם, the news of their approach), had withdrawn from Jerusalem (עלה מעל, see on Jer 21:2), viz.
, in order to repulse the Egyptians. Both of these circumstances are mentioned for the purpose of giving a clear view of the state of things: ( a ) Jeremiah’s freedom to go in and out, not to prepare us for his imprisonment afterwards, but to explain the reason why the king sent two chief officers of the realm to him, whereas, after his imprisonment, he caused him to be brought (cf.
Jer 37:17 with Jer 38:14); and ( b ) the approach of the Egyptians joined with the raising of the siege, because this event seemed to afford some hope that the city would be saved. - This occurrence, consequently, falls within a later period than that mentioned in Jer 21:1-14.
Jer 37:1-5 The account of what befell Jeremiah and what he did during the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, until the taking of the city, is introduced, Jer 37:1 and Jer 37:2, with the general remark that Zedekiah - whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah (on which name see on Jer 22:24) - when he became king, did not listen to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah, neither himself, nor his servants (officers), nor the people of the land (the population of Judah). Then follows, Jer 37:3-10, a declaration of the prophet regarding the issue of the siege, which he sent to the king by the messengers who were to beseech him for his intercession with the Lord.
Jer 37:3-5. The occasion of this declaration was the following: Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah two of his chief officers, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (see on Jer 38:1), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest (see Jer 21:1 and Jer 29:25), with this charge: "Pray now for us to Jahveh our God." This message was sent to Jeremiah while he still went in and out among the people, and had not yet been put in prison (כּליא, Jer 37:4 and Jer 52:31, an unusual form for כּלא, Jer 37:15 and Jer 37:18, for which the Qeri would have us in both instances read כּלוּא); the army of Pharaoh (Hophra, Jer 44:30), too, had marched out of Egypt to oppose the Chaldeans; and the latter, when they heard the report of them (שׁמעם, the news of their approach), had withdrawn from Jerusalem (עלה מעל, see on Jer 21:2), viz.
, in order to repulse the Egyptians. Both of these circumstances are mentioned for the purpose of giving a clear view of the state of things: ( a ) Jeremiah’s freedom to go in and out, not to prepare us for his imprisonment afterwards, but to explain the reason why the king sent two chief officers of the realm to him, whereas, after his imprisonment, he caused him to be brought (cf.
Jer 37:17 with Jer 38:14); and ( b ) the approach of the Egyptians joined with the raising of the siege, because this event seemed to afford some hope that the city would be saved. - This occurrence, consequently, falls within a later period than that mentioned in Jer 21:1-14.
Jer 37:1-5 The account of what befell Jeremiah and what he did during the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, until the taking of the city, is introduced, Jer 37:1 and Jer 37:2, with the general remark that Zedekiah - whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah (on which name see on Jer 22:24) - when he became king, did not listen to the words of the Lord through Jeremiah, neither himself, nor his servants (officers), nor the people of the land (the population of Judah). Then follows, Jer 37:3-10, a declaration of the prophet regarding the issue of the siege, which he sent to the king by the messengers who were to beseech him for his intercession with the Lord.
Jer 37:3-5. The occasion of this declaration was the following: Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah two of his chief officers, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah (see on Jer 38:1), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest (see Jer 21:1 and Jer 29:25), with this charge: "Pray now for us to Jahveh our God." This message was sent to Jeremiah while he still went in and out among the people, and had not yet been put in prison (כּליא, Jer 37:4 and Jer 52:31, an unusual form for כּלא, Jer 37:15 and Jer 37:18, for which the Qeri would have us in both instances read כּלוּא); the army of Pharaoh (Hophra, Jer 44:30), too, had marched out of Egypt to oppose the Chaldeans; and the latter, when they heard the report of them (שׁמעם, the news of their approach), had withdrawn from Jerusalem (עלה מעל, see on Jer 21:2), viz.
, in order to repulse the Egyptians. Both of these circumstances are mentioned for the purpose of giving a clear view of the state of things: ( a ) Jeremiah’s freedom to go in and out, not to prepare us for his imprisonment afterwards, but to explain the reason why the king sent two chief officers of the realm to him, whereas, after his imprisonment, he caused him to be brought (cf.
Jer 37:17 with Jer 38:14); and ( b ) the approach of the Egyptians joined with the raising of the siege, because this event seemed to afford some hope that the city would be saved. - This occurrence, consequently, falls within a later period than that mentioned in Jer 21:1-14.