CHAPTER 36 Aug. 15 
Jeremiah Dictates a Scroll
It happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying, 2Take a scroll of a book, and write therein 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. 3It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 4Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh, which He had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book. 5Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up; I can’t go into the house of Yahweh: 6therefore you go, and read in the scroll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of Yahweh in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day; and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. 7It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will return each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Yahweh has pronounced against this people.
Baruch Reads the Scroll 
8Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Yahweh in Yahweh’s house. 9Now it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Yahweh. 10Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people. 11When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Yahweh, 12he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room: and behold, all the princes were sitting there, 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. 13Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them. 15They said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. 16Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one towards another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 17They asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How did you write all these words at his mouth? 18Then Baruch answered them, he pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. 19Then the princes said to Baruch, Go, hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are. 20They went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king. 21So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll; and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king.
The King Burns the Scroll
22Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. 23It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. 24They were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not hear them. 26The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them. 27Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: You have burned this scroll saying, Why have you written therein saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast? 30Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on 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. 31I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because they didn’t listen. 32Then took Jeremiah another scroll, 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 to them many like words.

Commentary

36:2 Jeremiah was asked to write down his words so that perhaps Judah would repent (:3). God recognized that by regularly reading those words there was a far higher chance the message might sink in and they would be motivated to action. Hearing God’s word read to us is one thing, but reading it ourselves is another process. We who are literate and have Bibles are greatly blessed with the potential for really getting to grips with God’s word in a manner which others haven’t been blessed with. To waste and fritter away that responsibility in favour of trashy novels is something we shall have to give account for. 
36:3 God says that perhaps Judah would hear His word and repent; in :7 Jeremiah repeats this by saying that perhaps Judah would pray and repent. True prayer is therefore a reflection of our hearing of God’s word. His word influences ours. If the Lord’s word abides in us, then prayer becomes powerful, as our will merges with that of God in our requests (Jn. 15:7).
36:9 The paradox is that the leadership fasted, but didn’t ultimately want to hear God’s word. Even such self-deprivation is of no meaning unless we are going to be guided by God’s word. 
36:19 It’s a common feature of human response that we tend to ‘shoot the messenger’, and this is supremely true when it comes to response to someone preaching repentance and God’s demands upon human life. This is the main psychological reason behind religious persecution. The source of discomfort must be removed from our presence or even destroyed.
36:23 As noted on :19, the natural human response to God’s word prodding at their conscience is to remove it, to shoot the messenger. In our day one way of getting rid of the inconvenient demands of God’s word is to declare parts of it uninspired by Him; not really His word, just the local views of the time; or to embark upon complex academic attempts to cloud the obvious message with a cloud of uncertainty, radical re-translation and polemics.
36:24 They were not afraid- But when they first heard those words, they were afraid (:16). Our response to and even interpretation of God’s word is so often influenced by those around us. In the presence of unbelievers we can be tempted to see it the way they do... Bible reading and response has to be a totally personal enterprise, and at times it calls us to be prepared to stand alone, with our backs to the world if necessary.