Single lesson
The King Burns Jeremiah's Scroll
Jeremiah 36:1–32
This lesson traces Jeremiah 36 from Yahweh’s command to write, through the public readings, to King Jehoiakim’s decision to burn the scroll. Students will sequence the account, compare responses, and examine Yahweh’s stated response with care.
Before you teach
Jeremiah 36 records Yahweh telling Jeremiah to write all the words spoken against Israel, Judah, and the nations so the people might hear, turn, and be forgiven. Baruch wrote and read the scroll because Jeremiah was restricted. Officials heard it, then the king heard it, burned it, and Yahweh told Jeremiah to write another scroll.
Students will be able to sequence Jeremiah 36, identify the different choices made by Baruch, the officials, and Jehoiakim, and explain that Yahweh restated his words and announced judgement on those who would not listen.
Welcome: Track the scroll’s journey
5 minShow a sheet rolled like a scroll and explain that students will follow where the message goes in Jeremiah 36: from Yahweh to Jeremiah, to Baruch, to the people, to the officials, and then to the king. Ask students to listen for each person’s response and note whether they obey, fear, ignore, or oppose the message.
Jeremiah 36:2, Jeremiah 36:4, Jeremiah 36:10, Jeremiah 36:16, Jeremiah 36:21, Jeremiah 36:23
Read and explain: Why the scroll was written
9 minRead Jeremiah 36:1-10 aloud. Explain that Yahweh wanted his words written down and heard. The passage states the purpose clearly: perhaps Judah would hear, turn from evil, and be forgiven. Because Jeremiah could not go into Yahweh’s house, Baruch wrote the words from Jeremiah’s mouth and read them on the fast day.
Jeremiah 36:2, Jeremiah 36:3, Jeremiah 36:5, Jeremiah 36:6, Jeremiah 36:7, Jeremiah 36:8, Jeremiah 36:9, Jeremiah 36:10
Discuss: The officials hear and react
8 minRead Jeremiah 36:11-19. Have students list the steps in order: Micaiah heard, reported to the officials, Baruch was summoned, the scroll was read again, the officials became afraid, asked how it was written, and told Baruch and Jeremiah to hide. Discuss how their fear and warning differ from simply ignoring the words.
Jeremiah 36:11, Jeremiah 36:13, Jeremiah 36:14, Jeremiah 36:15, Jeremiah 36:16, Jeremiah 36:17, Jeremiah 36:18, Jeremiah 36:19
Make and respond: Sequence cards and choice labels
10 minStudents make six to eight simple cards for key moments in Jeremiah 36 and arrange them in order. Then they add a one-word response label such as write, read, fear, plead, burn, hide, rewrite. After ordering the cards, pairs explain which choices matched Yahweh’s word and which choices opposed it.
Jeremiah 36:4, Jeremiah 36:10, Jeremiah 36:16, Jeremiah 36:19, Jeremiah 36:23, Jeremiah 36:25, Jeremiah 36:26, Jeremiah 36:32
Closing: The king burns the scroll, and Yahweh speaks again
8 minRead or summarise Jeremiah 36:20-32 carefully. Note that Jehoiakim cut and burned the scroll, was not afraid, and did not listen, even when some urged him not to burn it. Yahweh then told Jeremiah to write the words again. The passage also says Yahweh answered Jehoiakim’s refusal with announced judgement on him, his offspring, his servants, Jerusalem, and Judah because they did not listen.
Jeremiah 36:21, Jeremiah 36:23, Jeremiah 36:24, Jeremiah 36:25, Jeremiah 36:26, Jeremiah 36:28, Jeremiah 36:29, Jeremiah 36:30, Jeremiah 36:31, Jeremiah 36:32
Questions to explore
According to the passage, why did Yahweh want these words written on a scroll and read aloud?
Look for the stated purpose in the text itself: Judah might hear, turn from evil, and receive forgiveness.
Jeremiah 36:2, Jeremiah 36:3, Jeremiah 36:7
What differences do you see between the officials’ response and Jehoiakim’s response?
Compare the officials’ fear, questions, and warning with the king’s burning of the scroll and refusal to listen.
Jeremiah 36:16, Jeremiah 36:17, Jeremiah 36:19, Jeremiah 36:23, Jeremiah 36:24, Jeremiah 36:25
How does the end of the chapter show both Yahweh’s persistence and Yahweh’s judgement?
Notice that another scroll is written, and also that Yahweh speaks against Jehoiakim and those who did not listen.
Jeremiah 36:28, Jeremiah 36:29, Jeremiah 36:30, Jeremiah 36:31, Jeremiah 36:32
Make, think or respond
Scroll Sequence and Response Cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or light card
- pencils or markers
- scissors
- the Bible passage
Try it together
- Write or draw six to eight key moments from Jeremiah 36 on separate cards.
- Arrange the cards in order using the passage.
- Add a short response word to each card, such as hear, read, fear, hide, burn, or rewrite.
- In pairs, explain one card each and support it with a verse reference from the passage.
This activity helps students trace the order of Jeremiah 36 and compare how different people responded to Yahweh’s word.
Adapt for your group
- For younger teens, provide the event list first and let them focus on ordering the cards and matching references.
- For older students, ask them to divide the cards into two groups: responses that moved toward Yahweh’s word and responses that resisted it, then justify their choices from the text.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: "Lord, help us hear your word seriously and respond rightly. Keep us from refusing what you say, and teach us to listen with honesty. Amen."
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Jeremiah 36
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2 “Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them, that they may each return from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 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.
5 Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I can’t go into Yahweh’s house.
6 Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, Yahweh’s words, in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
7 It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”
8 Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book Yahweh’s words in Yahweh’s house.
9 Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Yahweh.
10 Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in Yahweh’s house, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people.
11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all Yahweh’s words,
12 he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room; and behold, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
13 Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them.
15 They said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
16 Now when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.”
17 They asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words at his mouth?”
18 Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19 Then the princes said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
20 They went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. Then they told all the words in the hearing of the king.
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.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him.
23 When Jehudi had read three or four columns, 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.
24 The king and his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and didn’t tear their garments.
25 Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.
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.
27 Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
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.
29 Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Yahweh says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written therein, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal”?’ ”
30 Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
31 I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.” ’ ”
32 Then Jeremiah took 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.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.