Jehoiakim Burns Up Jeremiah’s Scroll
1A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. The message said, 2“Get a scroll. Write on it all the words I have spoken to you. Write down what I have said about Israel, Judah and all the other nations. Write what I have said to you from the time of King Josiah until now. 3The people of Judah will hear about all the trouble I plan to bring on them. Maybe then each of them will turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the evil things they have done.”
4So Jeremiah sent for Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jeremiah told him to write down all the words the Lord had spoken to him. And Baruch wrote them on the scroll. 5Then Jeremiah said to him, “I’m not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. 6So you go there. Go on a day when the people are fasting. Read to them from the scroll. Read the words of the Lord you wrote down as I gave them to you. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. 7They will hear what the Lord will do to them when his burning anger blazes out against them. Then perhaps they will pray to him. And maybe each of them will turn from their evil ways.”
8Baruch, the son of Neriah, did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do. He went to the Lord’s temple. There he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. 9It was in the fifth year that Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, was king of Judah. It was the ninth month of that year. A time of fasting at the Lord’s temple had been ordered. All the people in Jerusalem were told to take part in it. So were those who had come in from the towns of Judah. 10Baruch read to all the people who were at the Lord’s temple. He read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll. He was in the room of Gemariah the secretary. It was located in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple. Gemariah was the son of Shaphan.
11Micaiah was the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Micaiah heard Baruch reading all the Lord’s words that were written on the scroll. 12Then he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace. All the officials were sitting there. They included the secretary Elishama and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah. Elnathan, the son of Akbor, was also there. So was Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, was there too. And so were all the other officials. 13Micaiah told all of them what he had heard. He told them everything Baruch had read to the people from the scroll. 14All the officials sent Jehudi to speak to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jehudi was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Cushi. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Come. Bring the scroll you have read to the people.” So Baruch went to them. He carried the scroll with him. 15The officials said to him, “Please sit down. Read the scroll to us.”
So Baruch read it to them. 16They heard all its words. Then they looked at one another in fear. They said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” 17They said to Baruch, “Tell us. How did you happen to write all these things? Did Jeremiah tell you to do this?”
18“Yes,” Baruch replied. “He told me to write down all these words. So I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
19Then the officials spoke to Baruch. They said, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
20The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary. Then they went to the king in the courtyard. They reported everything to him. 21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi read it to the king. All the officials were standing beside the king. So they heard it too. 22It was the ninth month. The king was sitting in his winter apartment. A fire was burning in the fire pot in front of him. 23Jehudi read three or four sections from the scroll. Then the king cut them off with a secretary’s knife. He threw them into the fire pot. He did that until the entire scroll was burned up in the fire. 24The king and some of his attendants heard all these words. But they weren’t afraid. They didn’t tear their clothes. 25Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll. But he wouldn’t listen to them. 26Instead, the king commanded three men to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them. The three men were Jerahmeel, Seraiah and Shelemiah. Jerahmeel was a member of the royal court. Seraiah was the son of Azriel. And Shelemiah was the son of Abdeel.
27A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came after the king burned the scroll. On the scroll were the words Baruch had written down. Jeremiah had told him to write them. The message said, 28“Get another scroll. Write on it all the words that were on the first one. King Jehoiakim burned that one up. 29Also tell King Jehoiakim, ‘The Lord says, “You burned that scroll. You said to Baruch, ‘Why did you write that the king of Babylon would certainly come? Why did you write that he would destroy this land? And why did you write that he would remove from it people and animals alike?’ ” 30So now the Lord has something to say about Jehoiakim, the king of Judah. He says, “No one from Jehoiakim’s family line will sit on David’s throne. Jehoiakim’s body will be thrown out. It will lie outside in the heat by day and in the frost at night. 31I will punish him and his children and his attendants. I will punish them for their sinful ways. I will bring on them all the trouble I said I would. And I will bring it on the people of Jerusalem and Judah. They have not listened to me.” ’ ”
32So Jeremiah got another scroll. He gave it to Baruch the secretary. He was the son of Neriah. Jeremiah told Baruch what to write on it. Baruch wrote down all the words that were on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned up in the fire. And many more words were written on it. They were similar to those that had already been written.
Yehoiakim Hye Yeremia Nwoma Mmobɔeɛ
1Yudahene Yosia babarima Yehoiakim afe a ɛtɔ so ɛnan mu, saa asɛm yi firi Awurade nkyɛn baa Yeremia hɔ, 2“Fa nwoma mmobɔeɛ, na twerɛ nsɛm a maka akyerɛ wo fa Israel, Yuda ne aman a aka no ho nyinaa, ɛfiri ɛberɛ a mefirii aseɛ kasa kyerɛɛ wo wɔ Yosia adedie berɛ so bɛsi ɛnnɛ gu so. 3Ebia, sɛ Yudafoɔ te amanehunu biara a mayɛ mʼadwene sɛ mede bɛba wɔn so a, wɔn mu biara bɛdane afiri nʼamumuyɛ ho na afei mede wɔn amumuyɛ ne wɔn bɔne bɛkyɛ wɔn.”
4Enti, Yeremia frɛɛ Neria babarima Baruk, na ɛberɛ a ɔreka nsɛm a Awurade aka akyerɛ no nyinaa no, Baruk twerɛ guu nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mu. 5Afei, Yeremia ka kyerɛɛ Baruk sɛ, “Meda dua mu; merentumi nkɔ Awurade asɔredan mu. 6Enti, kɔ Awurade efie mmuadadie da bi na kenkan nsɛm a ɛfiri Awurade nkyɛn a meka ma wotwerɛ guu nwoma mmobɔeɛ no so no kyerɛ nnipa no. Kenkan kyerɛ Yudafoɔ a wɔfiri wɔn nkuro so aba no. 7Ebia wɔde wɔn nkotosrɛ bɛba Awurade anim na wɔn mu biara adane afiri nʼamumuyɛ akwan ho, ɛfiri sɛ abufuo ne abufuhyeɛ nsɛm a Awurade aka atia saa nnipa yi so.” 8Neria babarima Baruk yɛɛ biribiara a odiyifoɔ Yeremia kyerɛɛ no sɛ ɔnyɛ no, ɔkenkanee Awurade nsɛm a ɛwɔ nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mu wɔ Awurade asɔredan no mu. 9Ɔbosome a ɛtɔ so nkron wɔ Yudahene Yosia babarima Yehoiakim adedie afe a ɛtɔ so enum so no, wɔpaee Awurade anim mmuadadie maa nnipa a wɔwɔ Yerusalem nyinaa ne wɔn a wɔfiri Yuda nkuro so aba no. 10Baruk kenkanee Yeremia nsɛm a ɛwɔ nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mu kyerɛɛ nnipa a wɔwɔ Awurade asɔredan no mu nyinaa; firii Safan babarima Gemaria a ɔyɛ ɔtwerɛfoɔ no pia a ɛwɔ asɔredan no atifi adihɔ na ɛbɛn Ɔpono Foforɔ no mu.
11Ɛberɛ a Safan babarima Gemaria babarima Mikaia tee Awurade nsɛm a ɛwɔ nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mu no, 12ɔkɔɔ ɔtwerɛfoɔ no dan a ɛwɔ ahemfie hɔ no mu, baabi a na ɔtwerɛfoɔ Elisama, Semaia babarima Delaia, Akbor babarima Elnatan, Safan babarima Gemaria, Hanania babarima Sedekia ne adwumayɛfoɔ a wɔaka no nyinaa teteɛ. 13Mikaia kaa nsɛm a Baruk kenkanee firii nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mu nyinaa kyerɛɛ wɔn no akyi, 14adwumayɛfoɔ no nyinaa somaa Kusi babarima Selemia babarima Netania babarima Yehudi sɛ ɔnkɔka nkyerɛ Baruk sɛ, “Fa nwoma mmobɔeɛ a wokenkane firii mu kyerɛɛ nnipa no bra, na bra.” Enti Neria babarima Baruk kɔɔ wɔn hɔ a nwoma mmobɔeɛ no kura no. 15Wɔka kyerɛɛ no sɛ, “Yɛsrɛ wo tena ase, na kenkan kyerɛ yɛn.”
Enti Baruk kenkan kyerɛɛ wɔn. 16Wɔtee saa nsɛm yi nyinaa no, wɔde ehu hwehwɛɛ wɔn ho wɔn ho anim na wɔka kyerɛɛ Baruk sɛ, “Ɛsɛ sɛ yɛka saa nsɛm yi nyinaa kyerɛ ɔhene.” 17Afei, wɔbisaa Baruk sɛ, “Ka kyerɛ yɛn, ɛyɛɛ dɛn na wotwerɛɛ yeinom nyinaa? Yeremia na ɔka ma wotwerɛeɛ anaa?”
18Baruk buaa sɛ, “Aane, ɔno na ɔkaa saa nsɛm yi nyinaa ma mede adubiri twerɛ guu nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mu.”
19Na adwumayɛfoɔ no ka kyerɛɛ Baruk sɛ, “Wo ne Yeremia, monkɔhinta. Monnkyerɛ obiara mo akyiri ɛkwan.”
20Wɔde nwoma mmobɔeɛ no kɔsiee ɔtwerɛfoɔ Elisama dan mu akyi no, wɔkɔɔ ɔhene no nkyɛn wɔ nʼabannwa no mu kɔkaa biribiara kyerɛɛ no. 21Ɔhene no somaa Yehudi sɛ, ɔnkɔfa nwoma mmobɔeɛ no mmra. Yehudi kɔfa firii ɔtwerɛfoɔ Elisama dan mu, bɛkenkan kyerɛɛ ɔhene ne adwumayɛfoɔ a wɔgyinagyina ne ho no nyinaa. 22Na ɛyɛ ɔbosome a ɛtɔ so nkron a na ɔhene no te awɔberɛ dan mu reto ogya a ɛsi nʼanim. 23Ɛberɛ biara a Yehudi bɛkenkan nwoma mmobɔeɛ no afaafa bɛyɛ mmiɛnsa anaa ɛnan no, ɔhene no de ɔtwerɛfoɔ sekan, twitwa de gu ogya no mu, kɔsii sɛ nwoma mmobɔeɛ no nyinaa hyeeɛ. 24Ɔhene no ne nʼasomfoɔ a wɔtee saa nsɛm yi nyinaa no ammɔ hu, na wɔansunsuane wɔn ntadeɛ mu nso. 25Ɛwom sɛ Elnatan, Delaia ne Gemaria srɛɛ ɔhene no sɛ ɔnnhye nwoma mmobɔeɛ no, nanso wantie wɔn. 26Mmom ɔhene no hyɛɛ ne babarima Yerahmeel, Asriel babarima Seraia ne Abdeel babarima Selemia sɛ, wɔnkɔkye ɔtwerɛfoɔ Baruk ne odiyifoɔ Yeremia mmra. Nanso, na Awurade de wɔn asie.
27Ɔhene no hyee nwoma mmobɔeɛ a na nsɛm a Baruk twerɛ firii Yeremia anom wɔ mu no akyi no, Awurade asɛm baa Yeremia nkyɛn sɛ, 28“Fa nwoma mmobɔeɛ foforɔ, na twerɛ nsɛm a ɛwɔ kane mmobɔeɛ a Yudahene Yehoiakim hyeeɛ no gu mu. 29Afei, ka kyerɛ Yudahene Yehoiakim sɛ, ‘Yei ne deɛ Awurade seɛ: Wohyee nwoma mmobɔeɛ no kaa sɛ: “Adɛn enti na wotwerɛɛ wɔ mu sɛ ɛkwan biara so, Babiloniahene bɛba abɛsɛe asase yi na watɔre ɛso nnipa ne mmoa nyinaa ase?” 30Ɛno enti, yei ne deɛ Awurade ka fa Yudahene Yehoiakim ho: Ɔrennya obi ntena Dawid ahennwa so. Wɔbɛto ne funu atwene a, wɔrensie no, na wada owia hyeɛ ne anadwo awɔ mu. 31Mɛtwe ɔno ne ne mma ne nʼasomfoɔ aso wɔ wɔn amumuyɛ nti; mede amanehunu biara a mahyɛ atia wɔn bɛba wɔn ne wɔn a wɔte Yerusalem ne Yudafoɔ so, ɛfiri sɛ wɔnntieɛ.’ ”
32Na Yeremia faa nwoma mmobɔeɛ foforɔ, na ɔka maa ne twerɛfoɔ Baruk twerɛeɛ. Ɔkaa biribiara a na ɛwɔ nwoma mmobɔeɛ no a Yudahene Yehoiakim hyee no no so. Na ɔde nsɛm pii kaa ho.
