Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all Yahweh’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book.
Parallel Translations
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Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all Yahweh’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book.
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Then 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.
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Then 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.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 36:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 32:12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.
- Jeremiah 36:32 Then took Jeremiah another scroll, 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 many similar words were added to them.
- Ezekiel 2:9 When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
- Jeremiah 43:3 but Baruch the son of Neriah has turned you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.”
- Isaiah 8:1 Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;
- Jeremiah 36:17-18 They asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words at his mouth?” Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
- Jeremiah 36:21 So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll; and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.
- Jeremiah 36:23 When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
- Jeremiah 36:26 The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.
- Jeremiah 36:28 “Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.
- Jeremiah 45:1-2 The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:
- Zechariah 5:1 Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll.
- Romans 16:22 I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the Prophet declares that he dictated to Baruch,…
Here the Prophet declares that he dictated to Baruch, a servant of God, whatever he had previously taught. But there is no doubt but that God suggested to the Prophet at the time what might have been erazed from his memory; for all the things which we have some time ago said, do not always occur to us. Therefore the greater part of so many words must have escaped the Prophet, had not God dictated them again to him. Jeremiah then stood, as it were, between God and Baruch; for God, by his Spirit, presided over and guided the mind and tongue of the Prophet. Now the Prophet, the Spirit being his guide and teacher, recited what God had commanded; and Baruch wrote down, and then proclaimed the whole summary of what the Prophet had taught.
He therefore says, that he called to him Baruch the son of Neria, who wrote from his mouth, and he wrote all the words of Jehovah Jeremiah repeats again that nothing came from himself. We hence see that he did not dictate, according to his own will, what came to his mind, but that God suggested whatever he wished to be written by Baruch. It is added, that he commanded Baruch to recite in the Temple what he had written, because he himself was detained. Some think that he was shut up in prison; and he used the same word before, when he told us that he was cast into prison by Zedekiah. But as sacred history does not say that he suffered any such thing under Jehoiakim, I am inclined to think that he was prevented by God; I do not, however, ascribe it to a divine oracle; for it might have happened either through God’s command, or through some human impediments. If we believe the Prophet to have been in prison, and that he might have gone out, he yet abstained; for the more liberty was given him, the more bound he felt himself to continue in prison, lest he should violate public authority. But the other supposition is more probable, that he was detained by God’s hand. However this may have been, he says that he could not go forth; and he mentioned this, lest it should appear that he was only careful as to himself, and that through fear of danger, he devolved this duty on Baruch. He then shews that he did not shun his office, because it exposed him to hatred, but that he was not at liberty to go forth.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As he did indite.
As he did indite.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 36:4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of…
Jer 36:4 Then 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.
Ver. 4. Then Jeremiah calIed Baruch, … and {a} Baruch wrote from the mouth.] Dictantis ab ore pependit. Jeremiah, it seemeth, had either not written his prophecies, or not so legibly, or in loose papers only; now he hath them fair written out into a book, making the same use of Baruch as afterward Paul did of Tertius, {Rom 16:22} who himself wrote no very good hand, as some have gathered from Gal 6:11; {See Trapp on "Gal 6:11"}
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{a} Baruch iste notarius et diaconus Ieremiae, simulque propheta fuit. - Oecolamp.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain We shall find this Baruch, being one of Jeremiah’s…
We shall find this Baruch, being one of Jeremiah’s disciples, more than once thus employed as Jeremiah’s secretary or amanuensis. None shall need ask how Jeremiah could remember all the prophecies he had prophesied for twenty-two years before past, that considereth who it was that commanded him to do this. God undoubtedly revived the prophet’s memory, or he could not have called all to mind.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah,.... One…
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah,.... One of his disciples, and whom he had before made use of in the purchase of a field of his uncle's son, and to whom he gave the evidence of the purchase, Jer 32:12; he was probably a better penman than the prophet, or a quicker writer; however, he thought proper, for quicker dispatch, to make use of him as his amanuensis:
and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord,
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which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book; it seems that Jeremiah had not committed any of his prophecies to writing; and yet it cannot be thought that by the mere strength of memory he could repeat every discourse and prophecy he had delivered in the space of two and twenty years; wherefore it must be concluded, that that same Spirit, which first dictated the prophecies to him, brought them fresh to his memory; so that he could readily repeat them to Baruch, who took them down in writing on a roll of parchment.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch] This man, so…
Verse 4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch] This man, so useful to the prophet, and so faithfully attached to him, was by office a scribe; which signifies, not only a writer, but also a man in office; a chancellor, secretary, c., a learned man one acquainted with laws and customs.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 36:4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch — Baruch was…
Jer 36:4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch — Baruch was the most faithful disciple of this prophet: he served him as long as he lived in the capacity of his secretary, and never left him till his death. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words, &c. — We need not ask how Jeremiah could remember all the prophecies that he had prophesied, for twenty-two years before, considering who it was that commanded him to put them in writing. God undoubtedly brought them to his remembrance, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to have recollected them all. The Spirit of God dictated to Jeremiah, and he to Baruch.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Book. This was afterwards burnt. What he wrote a…
Book. This was afterwards burnt. What he wrote a second time has not come down to us, in the same order. Jeremias made us of his memory, which was directed by the Holy Spirit. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain all . . . words of . . .…
all . . . words of . . . Lord--God specially suggesting what might otherwise have escaped his memory, and directing the choice of words, as well as the substance (Joh 14:26; Joh 16:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah — That…
4. Wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah — That is, at his dictation. The writing was done under his supervision; but, as stated above, there is no conclusive reason why the scribe might not avail himself in making his record of any earlier ones if they existed. This matter of writing would seem to have been the most honourable of employments. Hence in this case the scribe is Baruch, a member of a noble family.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch] mentioned already (Jer_32:12 f.)…
4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch] mentioned already (Jer_32:12 f.) as the prophet’s attendant. He was grandson of Maaseiah, “governor of the city” (2Ch_34:8) and brother of Seraiah (Jer_51:59).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah.—See…
(4) Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah.—See Note on Jer_32:12. The prophet was, as the next verse shows, in some way hindered, though apparently not by imprisonment, as he and Baruch could hide themselves (Jer_36:19): Baruch therefore had to act not only as the prophet’s amanuensis, but as the preacher of his sermon. It will be noted that an interval of some months elapsed between the dictation and the public utterance.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Baruch. Already mentioned as Jeremiah"s attendant, in Jer_32:12. He…
Baruch. Already mentioned as Jeremiah"s attendant, in Jer_32:12. He appears to have been of high rank (see on ver. 15), as Josephus, indeed, expressly states ("Ant.," 10:9, 1). Maaseiah, his grandfather, was governor of the city, (2Ch_34:8) and Seraiah his brother (Jer_51:59) held some equally honourable, though not so easily definable, position in the court.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I am shut up.
Jer_36:4-7
I am shut up.
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Jeremiah in prison
1. Jeremiahs age was one of great political troubles.
2. It was also an age of signal religious privileges.
3. It was an age of great moral corruption.
I. His imprisonment suggests the sad moral character of his age. The prisons of an age are often criteria by which to determine its character. When prisons are filled with men of signal excellence of character, force of conscience, and self-denying philanthropy, you have sad moral proofs of the deep moral corruption of the age that could tolerate such enormity.
II. His imprisonment suggests Gods method of raising humanity. Heavens plan embraces the agency of good men. The agency is twofold, primary and secondary. There are spiritual seers and spiritual mechanics.
1. Jeremiah may be regarded as a type of the primary human agents whom God employs. They are frequently in the lowest secular condition; yet in that condition God communes with them, and gives them a message for the world.
2. Baruch may be regarded as a type of the secondary agents. In this age the Baruchs are numerous. Men abound who will take down the thoughts of great thinkers; but the Jeremiahs are rare. Thought power, rather than tongue power, is wanted now.
III. His imprisonment suggests the inability of the external to crush a holy soul.
1. He is free in his communion with heaven. From the dungeon he cried, and God heard him (Lam_3:56-57).
2. He was free in his sympathies with the race. He could not go out in body to the house of the Lord, but he went out in soul. Walls of granite, massive iron bars, chains of adamant, cannot confine the soul; nor can the densest darkness throw on it a single shadow. (Homilist.)
Gods servant imprisoned
When Henry Burton, two centuries ago, was persecuted for the name of Christ and put in prison, I found, he said, the comforts of my God in the Fleet Prison exceedingly, it being the first time of my being a prisoner. Go thou, and read in the roll.
The prophet and the roll:--
I. The solicitude of Jeremiah--(verses 4, 5).
II. The command of Jeremiah (verse 6).
III. The hope of Jeremiah (verse 7).
If Divine mercy could not woo them back to righteousness, he hoped that Divine justice might drive them. Alas! he was disappointed. The national heart, with a few rare exceptions, hardened into granite. And then they were overwhelmed with calamities. (E. Davies, D. D.)
The utility of Holy Scripture
See here the utility of the Holy Scriptures and the excellent use that may be made of reading them. A man maybe thereby doubtless converted, where preaching is wanting, as divers were in Queen Marys days, when the Word of God was precious; as Augustine was, by reading Rom_13:1-14.; Fulgentius, by the prophet Jonah; Franciscus Junius, by Joh_1:1-51., &c. (John Trapp.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Jeremiah called ... at Jeremiah's dictation ... to him…
Jeremiah called ... at Jeremiah's dictation ... to him ... Jeremiah gave ... He said
It is not clear why Jeremiah is referring to himself by name here. You may translate using first person, as the UDB does. AT: "I called ... at my dictation ... to me ... I gave ... I said" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
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Baruch wrote in a scroll, at Jeremiah's dictation, all the words of Yahweh spoken to him
"while Jeremiah was speaking, Baruch wrote in a scroll all of Yahweh's words that Yahweh had spoken to Jeremiah"
read from the scroll
"read out loud from the scroll" or "proclaim from the scroll"
must read
"must read out loud" or "must proclaim"
in the hearing of the people in his house
"so that the people in Yahweh's house can hear them." See how similar words are translated in Jeremiah 2:2.
in the hearing of all of Judah who have come from their cities
"so all the people of Judah who have come from their cities can hear them." See how similar words are translated in Jeremiah 2:2.
translationWords
Jeremiah
call
Baruch
scroll
word of God
command
prison
house of God
day
fast
preach
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 36:4 Evidently, Jeremiah was not skilled in writing, so…
36:4 Evidently, Jeremiah was not skilled in writing, so he enlisted the services of a scribe named Baruch. As they sat in their private quarters, Jeremiah repeated message after message from memory. It is not known whether Baruch had a role in composition or arrangement, or whether he simply recorded exactly what Jeremiah dictated.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.