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In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Verse 1. Fourth, towards the conclusion, after the siege was raised. verse 6. 9.
“Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day.
Verse 2. Write. He had already prophesied 22 years. Now he was more frequently ordered to write. Calmet.—He executed the order by the hand of Baruch. 5:4.
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.”
Verse 3. If. This indicates free-will. Bible.—God makes this last effort, that the hearing of so many separate prophecies together might make a deeper impression.
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the LORD’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book.
Verse 4. Book. This was afterwards burnt. What he wrote a second time has not come down to us, in the same order. Jeremias made us of his memory, which was directed by the Holy Spirit. Calmet.
Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I can’t go into the LORD’s house.
Verse 5. Shut up. Not that the prophet was now in prison; for the contrary appears from verse 19 but that he kept himself shut up, by reason of the persecutions he had lately met with. See Calmet. 26. Challoner.—If he had been confined, as Grotius asserts, the king would easily have found him. Calmet.—He and Baruch retired to some secret place, as most priests ( Worthington.) did formerly in England, ( Bible.) that they might better exercise their functions than they could do in the hands of the persecutors. Worthington.
Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, the LORD’s words, in the ears of the people in the LORD’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
Verse 6. Read. This may sometimes have as good an effect as preaching without a book. Bible.—Fasting day of expiation, (Usher, A. 3398) or rather on ( Bible.) the day prescribed in the 9th month. verse 9. Lyran. Tirinus.
It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will each return from his evil way; for the LORD has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”
Verse 7. They. Lit. “their supplication may fall prostrate before,” and so forth Bible.—It is personified. So Homer represents ( Calmet.) “supplications,” as daughters of Jupiter, lame, and with eyes averted, (Il. ix.) to shew how we ought to pray. Jeremias finds means to instruct the people: the word of God is not bound. 2 Timothy 2:9. Calmet.—As many refused to hear his discourses, God ordered him to write what might be a perpetual warning and reproach, or testimony against them. Worthington.
Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the LORD’s words in the LORD’s house.
Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before the LORD.
Verse 9. Fast. Probably on account of the catastrophe the second year. Daniel 1:2. Many such were afterwards appointed. Zechariah 7:3 and 8:19. All came to Jerusalem on such occasions.
Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in the LORD’s house, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house, in the ears of all the people.
Verse 10. Gate, on the east, (2 Chronicles 20:5) leading to the court of the priests. Calmet.
When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the LORD’s words,
he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room; and behold, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
Therefore 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.
They said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
Now when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.”
They asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words at his mouth?”
Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
Verse 18. Reading. No study was requisite. Bible.—Ink. It formerly resembled that used by printers, ( Calmet.) being composed of soot and gum. Vitruv. 7:10.
Then the princes said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
Verse 19. Are. Thus they provide for the safety of the prophets, and perform their duty to the king.
They went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. Then they told all the words in the hearing of the king.
So 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 hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.
Verse 21. Read it. This was the third time. It was in vain afterwards to destroy the book.
Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him.
Verse 22. Winter-house. He was very magnificent, and had other apartments for summer. Though the climate was warm, fires would be useful in November.—Hearth. There was no chimney used, and the smoke went out by the door, or by holes at the top of the room, as we see in some old monasteries. Calmet.—Charcoal was probably used. Baruch 6:42.
When Jehudi had read three or four columns, 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.
Verse 23. Pages. Perhaps what was written on so many skins, ( Bible.) or sheets of paper, pasted together, and rolled up; or there might be some marks to shew the different subjects, like the sections used in the synagogue, ( Calmet.) or our chapters; though we are assured that all was formerly written without any separation even of letters. Prot. have “leaves.” Bible.—Hebrew “doors.” Calmet. The secretary cut and burnt the leaves by the king’s order. verse 25. Worthington.
The king and his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and didn’t tear their garments.
Verse 24. Afraid. They saw all without any concern, not believing that God spoke to them. They did not imitate Josias. 2 Chronicles 34:19.
Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.
The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the LORD hid them.
Verse 26. Hid them, and prevented any one from betraying them. Calmet.—He did not remove them to a place different from what they had chosen by his direction. Worthington.
Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
“Take 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.
Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘The LORD says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written therein, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal”?’”
Therefore the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
Verse 30. None, and so forth Because his son, Joachin or Jechonias, within three months after the death of his father, was carried away to Babylon, so that his reign is not worthy to be taken notice of. Challoner. Theodoret. Worthington.—He was subject to the Chaldees; his uncle took his place. Joakim had the burial of an ass. Calmet. 22:18. Calmet.—None of the following princes enjoyed the glory or power of the ancient king. Saint Thomas Aquinas p. 3. qu. 31. a. 2. Worthington.
I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.”’”
Then Jeremiah took 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 many similar words were added to them.
Verse 32. Before. We cannot tell what. Calmet.—Prot. “many like words.” Bible.