36:1–8 The reference to Jehoiakim’s fourth year (v. 1) places this passage sometime in 605 BC, or about four years after Jehoiakim’s father, King Josiah, had been killed in a battle against Egypt (2 Kings 23:29–30). In short order, Jehoiakim reversed Josiah’s religious reforms and led Judah back into apostasy (2 Kings 23:37). Several passages in Jeremiah dating to the early reign of Jehoiakim attest that Jerusalem once again became a place of rampant idolatry, immorality, and injustice (e.g., Jeremiah 7; 26).

In chapter 36 emphasis falls on the preservation, not the content, of Yahweh’s word through Jeremiah. Yahweh commands Jeremiah to record “all the words” that he spoke to them “against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day [he] spoke to [them], from the days of Josiah until today” (v. 2). This comprehensive description of Jeremiah’s ministry looks back to his speech to the people in 25:3, in which the prophet recounted that Yahweh had given him oracular pronouncements from Josiah’s thirteenth year (c. 627 BC) until the present moment in Jehoiakim’s fourth year (c. 605 BC). Chapter 25 went on to warn that Babylon would be Yahweh’s hand of judgment against all nations, beginning with the people of Yahweh in Judah.

The purpose of repeating that speech from Yahweh, this time in written rather than oral form, is to impel the people to repentance when they hear their God speaking again (36:3, 7). Jeremiah enlists the help of his friend Baruch to record these words (v. 4) and read them aloud in the temple (vv. 5–6, 8). The fact that Jeremiah is prohibited from entering the temple (v. 5) suggests that he is under house arrest for his prophetic pronouncements, most likely including the pointed speech he delivered against the people in chapter 25. By contrast, his famous Temple Sermon (chs. 7; 26) had occurred in the presence of all the people, political and religious leaders included. With this chapter’s mention that Jeremiah is no longer allowed in the temple (36:5), it seems that the present episode occurs subsequently to others in Jehoiakim’s reign and that Jeremiah’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse.

36:9–13 A second reading of Jeremiah’s scroll ensues,118 about a year later, in Jehoiakim’s fifth year (604 BC; v. 9). The occasion is a fast to Yahweh that the people themselves have proclaimed (v. 9), possibly in response to the first reading of Jeremiah’s scroll in the temple. It is again Baruch who reads the scroll in the temple compound (v. 10; cf. v. 8), suggesting that Jeremiah remains persona non grata. Yet, unlike in the Temple Sermon narrative of chapter 26, no royal or priestly/scribal officials are present except for a certain Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan (v. 11).

The grassroots nature of the proceedings is confirmed by the note that no leaders were present except Micaiah, who brought news of Jeremiah’s scroll to a mixed group of royal and priestly officials (vv. 12–13). Among them is Gemariah the scribe, whose office in the temple precincts is where Baruch read the scroll (cf. v. 10) but who was oddly absent during the fast. Something is clearly amiss in how Judah’s leaders not only have placed Jeremiah under confinement but also are oblivious when Yahweh continues to speak through the scroll of the prophet and his helper.

36:14–19 The officials gathered in Jehoiakim’s palace summon Baruch (v. 14) to perform another reading of Jeremiah’s scroll in their presence (v. 15). To their credit, and in contrast to how their king will react (cf. vv. 23–24), this group of officials recognizes that the words of Yahweh through Jeremiah confront them with a fearful message that Jehoiakim must hear (v. 16). They remain somewhat clueless about how Jeremiah and Baruch have mediated Yahweh’s words to them (vv. 17–18; cf. vv. 9–12). Even so, they recognize that their God has spoken through these servants, who must now conceal themselves because of how harshly King Jehoiakim will respond.

36:20–26 The scroll that passed from Jeremiah to Baruch now passes out of Baruch’s hands and directly into King Jehoiakim’s presence. No doubt for the sake of cushioning the blow, the officials first report the contents of Jeremiah’s scroll (v. 20) before the king dispatches Jehudi his attendant to retrieve the scroll itself so that the king can hear what it says with his own ears (v. 21). Yet this fourth and final reading of the scroll serves merely to confirm Jehoiakim’s rejection of Yahweh’s word against him. During the very act of Jehudi’s reading of the scroll aloud, Jehoiakim methodically destroys it by cutting off just-read columns and casting them into the fire (vv. 22–23).

The king and the royal officials closest to him show no signs of remorse or repentance at Yahweh’s words (v. 24). This reaction differs markedly from the priestly/scribal officials who first informed Jehoiakim of the scroll’s existence and arranged for him to hear it (v. 25; cf. v. 16). The earlier group of officials was also wise to advise Baruch and Jeremiah to hide (cf. v. 19), for Yahweh uses their guidance to protect Baruch and Jeremiah when Jehoiakim reacts angrily (as expected) by commanding that these two whistleblowers be seized (v. 26). Ironically, the expulsion of Jeremiah from the religious and political establishment of Jerusalem (cf. v. 5) results in his words on Yahweh’s behalf still reaching the king, but without coming at the expense of the prophet’s life.

36:27–32 Unlike a scroll containing Yahweh’s word, the word of Yahweh itself cannot be destroyed. He has already superintended its journey through three stages: (1) from Jeremiah’s oral proclamation to a written text via Baruch (vv. 1–8); (2) from the scroll in Baruch’s hands to multiple oral performances by Baruch, both public and private (vv. 9–19); and (3) into the hands of a hostile audience that hears a now-disembodied word from Yahweh and attempts to destroy it (vv. 20–26).

A fourth stage for Yahweh’s word arrives sometime later in the command for Jeremiah and Baruch to write another scroll (v. 27). This improved version must contain not only all that its predecessor said (v. 28) but also a pointed warning to King Jehoiakim for his stubborn disbelief toward Yahweh’s word (v. 29). He and his clan will be deposed from the throne of Judah and suffer a harsh judgment: the Davidic promises will pass to another line within Josiah’s family, while the king’s own demise will be unceremonious when his corpse is shamed without a proper burial and exposed to the elements (v. 30). In addition to this personal judgment against his family, Jehoiakim’s nation will suffer the weight of the covenant curses Jeremiah has pronounced (v. 31). Jeremiah 36 began with the hope that Jehoiakim and his people would repent (vv. 3, 7), but the insolence of Jehoiakim means that it is now too late to turn back.

Jeremiah and Baruch comply with Yahweh’s word by producing another scroll of Yahweh’s word to replace the one Jehoiakim destroyed (v. 32). This scroll likely includes Jeremiah 1–25 or some large portion thereof, for the first half of the present book of Jeremiah focuses on events in Jehoiakim’s time. The fact that the complete book of Jeremiah also contains narratives and oracles all the way to the fall of Jerusalem (cf. 1:3) indicates that the mutually generative relationship between oral and textual words from Yahweh will continue for several decades in the manner of chapter 36.