WATCHMAN33
A cinematic biblical illustration portrays the king burns the prophetic scroll in an ancient setting shaped by the chapter’s central figures and symbols.
KING JAMES VERSION

JEREMIAH 36

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CHAPTER VISUAL

Jeremiah 36 — The King Burns the Prophetic Scroll.

About this illustration

The composition centers the king burns the prophetic scroll as the chapter’s defining visual, using a unified, historically grounded scene while avoiding written text and any bodily depiction of God.

Scripture basis: Jeremiah 36:1–32
  1. 1And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
  2. 2Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
  3. 3It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
  4. 4Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
  5. 5And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
  6. 6Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
  7. 7It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
  8. 8And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house.
  9. 9And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
  10. 10Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house, in the ears of all the people.
  11. 11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,
  12. 12Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
  13. 13Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
  14. 14Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
  15. 15And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
  16. 16Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.
  17. 17And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?
  18. 18Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
  19. 19Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
  20. 20 And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
  21. 21So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.
  22. 22Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
  23. 23And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
  24. 24Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
  25. 25Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.
  26. 26But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.
  27. 27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
  28. 28Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.
  29. 29And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?
  30. 30Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
  31. 31And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.
  32. 32 Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom

EXPLORE THE MESSAGE

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Archaeological Evidence

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArtifact
Late seventh–early sixth century BC

The Gemariah son of Shaphan Bulla

A tiny clay document sealing excavated in Jerusalem’s House of Bullae reads ‘Belonging to Gemaryahu son of Shaphan.’ Its paired names, administrative context, and destruction date make association with Jeremiah 36’s official unusually strong, though the impression itself preserves no title.

Jeremiah 36:10–12 · Jeremiah 36:25
Open evidence file
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Hasmonean period

4QJeremiahᵇ and the Shorter Edition of Jeremiah

Small Hasmonean parchment fragments preserve Hebrew readings related to Jeremiah's shorter Greek edition, demonstrating that more than one literary form of the prophetic book circulated before the common era.

Jeremiah 10:1–18 · Jeremiah 36:1–32
Open evidence file
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArchitecture
Late seventh to early sixth century BC

The House of the Bullae Archive Building

A burned room in Area G yielded a concentration of clay sealings that had once secured documents. Fire destroyed the perishable texts but baked many bullae hard, preserving names and administrative traces from Jerusalem’s final First Temple decades. The dossier connects the excavated evidence to Jeremiah 32:10-14 and Jeremiah 36:10-12 while keeping the historical claim narrower than the biblical narrative.

Jeremiah 32:10–14 · Jeremiah 36:10–12
Open evidence file

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