1. A message came to me from the Lord. 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 of the words I have spoken to you. Write down what I have said about Israel, Judah and all of the other nations. Write what I have said to you from the time of King Josiah until now.
3. The people of Judah will hear about all of the trouble I plan to bring on them. Maybe then all of them will turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will forgive their sins and the evil things they have done."
4. So I sent for Baruch, the son of Neriah. I told him to write down all of the words the Lord had spoken to me. And Baruch wrote them on the scroll.
5. Then I said to him, "I'm not allowed to go to the Lord's temple.
6. So 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 of the people of Judah who come in from their towns.