In the presence of all these people I instructed Baruch,

<p class="poetry">My blessing is on those people who trust in me,p> <p class="poetry">who put their confidence in me.<n id="1" />p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has a message for you, Baruch.

<p class="poetry">Cursed be the day I was born!p> <p class="poetry">May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.<n id="1" />p>

Then Jeremiah told Baruch, &#8220;I am no longer allowed to go<n id="1" /> into the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.

They said to him, &#8220;Please sit down and read it to us.&#8221; So Baruch sat down and read it to them.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. Then Jeremiah dictated to Baruch everything the <sc>Lordsc> had told him to say and Baruch wrote it all down in a scroll.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the <sc>Lordsc>,

<p class="bodytext">So Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what the prophet Jeremiah had told him to do. He read what the <sc>Lordsc> had said from the scroll in the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" />

Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.<n id="1" />

Then they asked Baruch, &#8220;How did you come to write all these words? Do they actually come from Jeremiah&#8217;s mouth?&#8221;<n id="1" />

Baruch answered, &#8220;Yes, they came from his own mouth. He dictated all these words to me and I wrote them down in ink on this scroll.&#8221;<n id="1" />

Then the officials said to Baruch, &#8220;You and Jeremiah must go and hide. You must not let anyone know where you are.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Jeremiah after Jehoiakim had burned the scroll containing what Jeremiah had spoken and Baruch had written down.<n id="1" />

But Baruch son of Neriah is stirring you up against us.<n id="1" /> He wants to hand us over<n id="2" /> to the Babylonians<n id="3" /> so that they will kill us or carry us off into exile in Babylon.&#8221;

All the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah and the grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. They ordered him to tell Baruch, &#8220;Come here and bring with you<n id="1" /> the scroll you read in the hearing of the people.&#8221;<n id="2" /> So Baruch son of Neriah went to them, carrying the scroll in his hand.<n id="3" />

I took both copies of the deed of purchase<n id="1" /> and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence<n id="2" /> of my cousin<n id="3" /> Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and all the Judeans who were housed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary.<n id="1" /> That room was in the upper court<n id="2" /> near the entrance of the New Gate.<n id="3" /> There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said.<n id="4" />p>

When they had heard it all,<n id="1" /> they expressed their alarm to one another.<n id="2" /> Then they said to Baruch, &#8220;We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!&#8221;<n id="3" />

He also ordered Jerahmeel, who was one of the royal princes,<n id="1" /> Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. However, the <sc>Lordsc> hid them.p>