Jeremiah 36:1-8
God graciously preserves and proclaims His word in order to call sinners to repentance before judgment comes.
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2 “Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them; that they may each return 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 Yahweh’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book.
5 Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I can’t go into Yahweh’s house.
6 Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, Yahweh’s words, in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
7 It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”
8 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book Yahweh’s words in Yahweh’s house.
God graciously preserves and proclaims His word in order to call sinners to repentance before judgment comes.
To record the LORD’s command for Jeremiah to write the prophetic words of judgment on a scroll so that Judah might hear and turn from their evil ways.
Jeremiah 36 begins the narrative of the scroll of Jeremiah. This passage records the initial command to write the prophetic message and the public reading of the scroll through Baruch’s ministry.
The Lord commands Jeremiah to record his prophecies in written form during the reign of Jehoiakim.
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.