Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 285
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J eremiah
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all the people. He stood in front of the Temple room of Gemariah, son of
Shaphan the secretary. This room was just off the upper courtyard of the
Temple, near the New Gate entrance.
When Micaiah son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan heard the
messages from the Lord, he went down to the secretary’s room in the
palace where the administrative officials were meeting. Elishama the sec
retary was there, along with Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of
Acbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the
other officials. When Micaiah told them about the messages Baruch was
reading to the people, the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, grandson
of Shelemiah and great-grandson of Cushi, to ask Baruch to come and read
the messages to them, too. So Baruch took the scroll and went to them.
“Sit down and read the scroll to us,” the officials said, and Baruch did as
they requested.
When they heard all the messages, they looked at one another in alarm.
“We must tell the king what we have heard,” they said to Baruch. “But
first, tell us how you got these messages. Did they come directly from
Jeremiah?”
So Baruch explained, “Jeremiah dictated them, and I wrote them down
in ink, word for word, on this scroll.”
“You and Jeremiah should both hide,” the officials told Baruch. “Don’t
tell anyone where you are!” Then the officials left the scroll for safe
keeping in the room of Elishama the secretary and went to tell the king
what had happened.
The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s
room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by. It was late autumn,
and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire
to keep warm. Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns,
the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw
it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up.
Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance
at what they heard. Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged
the king not to burn the scroll, he wouldn’t listen.
Then the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and
Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord had
hidden them.
After the king had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jer
emiah’s words, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message. He said, “Get
another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King
Jehoiakim burned. Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You
burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this
land and empty it of people and animals. Now this is what the Lord says
