5. Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I cannot go to the Temple of the Lord. I must stay here.
6. So I want you to go to the Temple of the Lord on a day when the people are fasting. Read from the scroll to all the people of Judah who come into Jerusalem from their towns. Read the messages from the Lord, which are the words you wrote on the scroll as I spoke them to you.
7. Perhaps they will ask the Lord to help them. Perhaps each one will stop doing wicked things, because the Lord has announced that he is very angry with them.”
8. So Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do. In the Lord’s Temple he read aloud the scroll that had the Lord’s messages written on it.
9. In the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king, a fast was announced. All the people of Jerusalem and everyone who had come into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah were supposed to give up eating to honor the Lord.
10. At that time Baruch read to all the people there the scroll containing Jeremiah’s words. He read the scroll in the Temple of the Lord in the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, a royal secretary. That room was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the Temple.
11. Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the messages from the Lord that were on the scroll.
12. Micaiah went down to the royal secretary’s room in the king’s palace where all of the officers were sitting: Elishama the royal secretary; Delaiah son of Shemaiah; Elnathan son of Acbor; Gemariah son of Shaphan; Zedekiah son of Hananiah; and all the other officers.
13. Micaiah told those officers everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll.
14. Then the officers sent a man named Jehudi son of Nethaniah to Baruch. (Nethaniah was the son of Shelemiah, who was the son of Cushi.) Jehudi said to Baruch, “Bring the scroll that you read to the people and come with me.”So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and went with Jehudi to the officers.
15. Then the officers said to Baruch, “Please sit down and read the scroll to us.”So Baruch read the scroll to them.
16. When the officers heard all the words, they became afraid and looked at each other. They said to Baruch, “We must certainly tell the king about these words.”
17. Then the officers asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, where did you get all these words you wrote on the scroll? Did you write down what Jeremiah said to you?”
18. “Yes,” Baruch answered. “Jeremiah spoke them all to me, and I wrote them down with ink on this scroll.”
19. Then the officers said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide, and don’t tell anyone where you are.”
20. The officers put the scroll in the room of Elishama the royal secretary. Then they went to the king in the courtyard and told him all about the scroll.