Burning Scroll

Overview

• Testament: Old
• Book: Jeremiah
• Chapters: Jeremiah 36
• Summary: God commanded Jeremiah to dictate all his prophecies to Baruch who read them publicly in the temple; when the scroll reached King Jehoiakim he cut it apart with a knife and burned it piece by piece in a brazier; Jeremiah rewrote it with additions.

Details

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 BC), God told Jeremiah to write in a scroll all the words he had spoken against Israel, Judah, and all nations since the beginning of his ministry. Jeremiah dictated to his secretary Baruch, who wrote all the words of the LORD in the scroll. Since Jeremiah was prevented from going to the temple himself, he sent Baruch to read the scroll to the people at the temple on a fast day — “it may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way.”

Baruch read in a chamber at the temple before all the people, and one of the officials, Micaiah, heard and reported to the princes. Baruch was summoned and read the scroll before them. They were afraid and resolved to tell the king; they also warned Baruch that Jeremiah should hide. When the scroll was read before King Jehoiakim in his winter palace, with a brazier burning before him, the king listened to three or four columns and then, with a penknife, cut those columns off and threw them in the fire — and continued until the entire scroll was burned. “Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.” Jehoiakim commanded Jeremiah and Baruch to be seized, but the LORD hid them.

God then told Jeremiah to take another scroll and write all the words of the first, adding that Jehoiakim would be punished and that disaster against Judah would be fulfilled. Baruch wrote under Jeremiah’s dictation a second scroll “with many like words.”

Key People Involved

• Jeremiah — Dictated the prophecies; rewrote after the burning
• Baruch — Jeremiah’s faithful secretary; read the scroll publicly
• Jehoiakim — The king who contemptuously burned God’s word
• Micaiah — The official who first heard and reported

Key Places

• Jerusalem — Temple — Where the scroll was first read
• Jehoiakim’s Palace — Where the burning occurred

Important Verses

“And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire.” — Jeremiah 36:23

Cross-References

• Related: Jeremiah’s Call — The beginning of the prophecies now written down
• Related: Siege & Fall — The judgment Jehoiakim tried to burn away
• Related books: Jeremiah

Notes

The burning of the scroll is an act of supreme defiance against the word of God — presented in sharp contrast to Josiah, who tore his clothes in grief upon hearing the Law read (2 Kings 22:11). Jehoiakim’s cold, deliberate destruction column by column, while warm by the fire, is one of scripture’s most vivid portraits of hardened unbelief. The divine response — rewrite it, with additions — demonstrates that human destruction of God’s word does not silence it. The episode has served as a paradigm for understanding how scripture is preserved through opposition.