1. In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me,
2. “Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present.
3. Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.”
4. So I called Baruch son of Neriah and dictated to him everything that the Lord had said to me. And Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll.
5. Then I gave Baruch the following instructions: “I am no longer allowed to go into the Temple.