Jeremiah Found a Way to Get God's Word in the Temple

By Mary Vee
Jeremiah 36

From Baruch's Journal

Jeremiah the prophet hired me to write down the words that the Lord had spoken to him.

We spent many days working on this project. 

As I cleaned up my work space, Jeremiah said, "I am not allowed to go to the Lord's temple. The king won't let me go there. You must go for me. 

"Me?"

"Yes. Go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from these scrolls. Read the whole thing to them. Maybe if they hear these words they will turn from their wicked ways. God is very angry with them and has promised a great punishment. This can all stop if the people will only say they are sorry and turn from doing bad."

I have lived in this land a long time working as a scribe, and in truth, I can't see the people wanting to change. Not that they couldn't. They simply won't.

Still, I would love to be wrong. So I did as Jeremiah asked.

The next day of fast would be in the ninth month of the fifth year of king Jehoiakim, son of the great king Josiah. Jehoiakim was not a good king. He worshiped idols and encouraged the people to do the same. 

I packed my things and walked to the Lord's temple on that day of fast and went inside to read the words from the scroll that the Lord had given Jeremiah. People came from all over Judah to the temple for the celebration.

I went to Gemariah's room which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple. There I unrolled the scroll and read every word as Jeremiah asked me to.

Michaiah heard all the words from the scroll then went down to the secretary's room in the royal palace. All the officials were there. "Listen carefully. Baruch has read words from God as told to the prophet Jeremiah."

"Where is he?"

"He's still at the temple."

One of the men turned to Jehudi. "Bring Baruch and the scroll here."

Jehudi ran to Gemariah's room where I was sitting. "Baruch, you have been summoned to bring your scroll to the officials."

I agreed to go with them. When I arrived at their meeting, the officials asked me to sit down with them and read the words from the scroll. I of course did as they asked.

As I finished the words I looked up at their faces. They all seemed afraid. "We must report these words to the king. Tell us, how did you come to write all this. Did Jeremiah dictate it?"

"Yes, he told me all these words and I wrote them here on this scroll."

"You and Jeremiah must go and hide at once. Don't let anyone know where you are."

I left the scroll with the officials and ran back to Jeremiah. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I will be hiding like the officials said to do.

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1. Where did Jeremiah tell Baruch to go?
2. What did Baruch do there?
3. What did the officials want?
4. What were the officials afraid of?
5. What did they tell Baruch to do?