Jeremiah 36:9-10 · Bible study
Jeremiah 36:9-10 Commentary: The Urgency of Prophetic Proclamation
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Discover why a fast was proclaimed in the ninth month and how Baruch's public reading of Jeremiah's scroll called the nation to repentance in a time of crisis.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Baruch publicly reads Jeremiah’s prophecies on a national fast day, calling Judah to repentance under threat of judgment.
- Key words: fast (צוֹם, tsom), proclaimed (קָרְאוּ, qare'u), reading aloud (וַיִּקְרָא, vayyiqra), ears (אָזְנֵי, oznei).
- Main debate: Whether the fast commemorated a past fall of Jerusalem or responded to an immediate Babylonian threat (Barnes vs. Gill).
- Theological theme: God’s word proclaimed in crisis calls for urgent repentance.
- Best use: A sermon or lesson on the public reading of Scripture and the church’s witness in national difficulty.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
9Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a fast before the LORD was proclaimed to all the people of Jerusalem and all who had come there from the cities of Judah.
10From the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, which was in the upper courtyard at the opening of the New Gate of the house of the LORD, Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the hearing of all the people.
WEB World English Bible 2000
9Now 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.
10Then 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.
KJV King James Version 1769
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.
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.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
9Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah.
10Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah’s house, in the ears of all the people.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
9And it cometh to pass, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah have all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who are coming in from cities of Judah to Jerusalem;
10and Baruch readeth in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the opening of the new gate of the house of Jehovah, in the ears of all the people.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
9And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, [that] they proclaimed a fast before Jehovah, for all the people in Jerusalem, and for all the people that came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
10And Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of the house of Jehovah, in the ears of all the people.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
9And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that were come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.
10And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Jeremiah 36:9
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that the fast described here is an extraordinary national fast, not the annual Day of Atonement. Barnes notes it was “probably in commemoration of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans in the previous year.” Gill adds that it may have been occasioned by the Chaldean threat, though he also mentions drought and famine as possibilities. Calvin emphasizes that the fast was proclaimed by the people, not the impious king. The location, the chamber of Gemariah, son of Shaphan the scribe, was carefully chosen. Cambridge explains that Gemariah’s father Shaphan was a scribe under Josiah, and that his brother Ahikam was a well-known protector of Jeremiah. Baruch read from a window or balcony opening into the upper court, at the new gate, where the largest crowds gathered. The consensus is that this public reading at a moment of national crisis underscores the urgency of repentance before judgment arrives.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Commemorative fast for Jerusalem’s fall: Barnes argues the ninth-month fast marked the anniversary of the city's capture by Chaldeans the previous year.
- Crisis fast against immediate threat: Gill notes the fast was likely proclaimed due to the approaching Babylonian army or a drought (Jer. 14:1).
What is clear: The fast was an extraordinary national act of repentance or supplication, and it provided the gathering needed for Baruch to publicly read Jeremiah’s prophecies to all the people.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of the fast | All commentators agree it was an extraordinary, non-Levitical fast, not the Day of Atonement. | Barnes and Cambridge say it likely commemorated the earlier Chaldean capture of Jerusalem; Gill suggests it could be either that or a response to drought/famine. The exact occasion is unclear. |
| Baruch's role as reader | Baruch acts as the prophet's authorized substitute, reading the dictated scroll aloud. | Some traditions see this as a model for lay reading of Scripture in public worship; others note that Baruch was not a priest but functioned in a scribal-prophetic role. The passage itself does not reflect on his clerical status. |
| Location: upper court and new gate | The reading took place at a very public spot: the chamber of Gemariah (a scribal official) opening onto the upper court of the temple. | Whether the 'upper court' is the court of priests (Barnes, Cambridge) or the court of Israel (Gill) is disputed. The term likely refers to the inner court, but the chamber allowed Baruch to be heard in the outer court. |
| Response of the people to the reading | The immediate response is not recorded in these two verses; the narrative continues with Micaiah reporting to the princes (v.11ff). | Some interpreters assume the people were moved; others point to the king's later destruction of the scroll (v.23) as evidence the majority remained hardened. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The fifth year of Jehoiakim (about 604 B.C.) was a time of shifting power in the ancient Near East. Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar had crushed the Egyptian army at Carchemish the year before and was now pressing southward toward Judah. The ninth month, Chisleu (our December), places this event in the rainy season, a winter fast, unlike the autumn Day of Atonement.
Jeremiah himself was under some form of restriction (verse 5: “I am restricted; I can’t go into Yahweh’s house”). The exact reason is not stated, but either the king had confined him or the prophet knew his presence would provoke violence. So Baruch, his scribe and faithful attendant, served as his public voice.
The reading location was deliberate. Gemariah’s chamber was attached to the “upper court” (the inner court, according to Barnes), which normally only priestly personnel could enter. But Baruch likely read from a window or balcony that looked down into the outer court where the people stood, a kind of public-address system in stone. The “new gate” (probably the eastern gate, per the Targum and many rabbis) was the busiest entrance to the temple complex, ensuring maximum exposure.
This was not a routine Sabbath reading. It was a calculated act of prophetic ministry on a day when the city was already in a posture of humility and prayer. The fast itself was a cry for help; Baruch’s reading of Jeremiah’s scroll answered that cry with God’s word of both warning and hope.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant variants affecting the meaning of these verses. Calvin observes that the Septuagint, Syriac, and Targum render verse 9 with a slightly different word order (“all the people… proclaimed a fast”), but he judges the Hebrew reading as more consistent. The overall text is stable.
Reception History
In Christian tradition, this passage has been read as a model for the public reading of Scripture in times of crisis. Reformers such as Calvin and Wesley pointed to Baruch’s boldness as an example of faithful proclamation despite restrictions. The passage also appears in discussions of the role of scribes and laity in transmitting God’s word. In the modern church, it is often cited in sermons urging public repentance and listening to prophetic voices. The location at the gate (a place of judgment) has been seen as a call for the word to be heard at the center of public life, not only in the sanctuary.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Setting: A Nation in Crisis. The fast reveals a people desperate for divine intervention. Whether from Babylon’s shadow or a failing harvest, they knew something was wrong. This is the soil where God’s word takes root.
- The Substitute: Baruch Speaks for the Prophet. Jeremiah could not go, but the word still went. One voice was restricted; another carried it forward. The church’s public witness continues through ordinary believers who take the message where the prophet cannot go.
- The Proclamation: God’s Word in the People’s Ears. The scroll was not read in a corner. It was read at the gate, in the court, to “all the people.” The location and timing communicated that this word was not optional, it was a life-or-death message for the whole nation.
Five-point outline
- Occasion: A fast declared in the ninth month, a time of national distress.
- Restriction: Jeremiah confined, but the message must go out (v.5).
- Location: The chamber of Gemariah, the upper court, the new gate, the most public spot in the temple.
- Reader: Baruch, the faithful scribe, reads “in the ears of all the people.”
- Outcome: The word reaches the princes (vv.12, 16) and eventually the king (v.21), setting the stage for either repentance or judgment.
Illustration hooks
- A fire alarm sounding during a crowded assembly. You cannot ignore it, and you do not wait for a more convenient time to respond.
- A public health announcement broadcast into a stadium. The people have gathered for one reason, but the announcement redirects their attention to something more urgent.
- A messenger who reads the news aloud in a village square during wartime. The words demand action, not curiosity.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why did a fast need to be proclaimed at all? Wasn’t there a regular Day of Atonement?
- If Jeremiah was “restricted,” does that mean the king had jailed him? Or was he voluntarily hiding?
- What difference did the public reading make? Did the people actually repent?
Leading a Discussion
In a time of national anxiety, the people of Judah gathered for a fast. They came seeking mercy. Instead, they first heard God’s word of judgment, and opportunity. This passages shows how God’s message finds its way even when prophets are silenced and kings are hostile. Begin by reading Jeremiah 36:9, 10 aloud, then work through the questions together.
Discussion questions
- What do we know about this fast? How was it different from the annual Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 23:27?
- Why was the location, the chamber of Gemariah, the upper court, the new gate, so important? What does it tell you about who was meant to hear?
- Why might Jeremiah have been “restricted” (v.5) from entering the temple? Does this restriction help us understand the risk Baruch took?
- How does the fact that Baruch read “in the ears of all the people” shape our understanding of public Scripture reading today?
- What does the fast itself suggest about the emotional and spiritual state of the nation in 604 B.C.?
- If you had been in the crowd that day, what would the combination of a fast and a prophecy of judgment have made you feel or do?
- In your own context, what might be the equivalent of a “fast day” where people are more open to hearing God’s word? How can the church use such moments wisely?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Leviticus 23:27 | “However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict yourselves and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. |
| II Chronicles 20:3 | Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. |
| Nehemiah 9:1 | Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them. |
| Esther 4:16 | “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” |
| Isaiah 58:1 | “Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins. |
| Isaiah 58:3 | ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers. |
| Jeremiah 36:1 | In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, |
| Jeremiah 36:22 | Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
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What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Adam Clarke notes that the ninth month mentioned corresponds to part of December. He also identifies Gemariah as one of the princes of Judah, as shown in the same chapter.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes identifies the ninth-month fast as likely commemorating Jerusalem's capture by the Chaldeans the previous year. He notes that Gemariah, a scribe like his father, would have been sympathetic to Jeremiah, and explains that the chamber where Baruch read faced the inner court but was accessible from the outer court.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin points out that the fast described here was proclaimed by the people, not by the ungodly king Jehoiakim. They sensed some grievous calamity at hand and used fasting not as something pleasing to God in itself, but as a symbol of humiliation and a preparation for prayer.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentary notes that the ninth month (December, called Chisleu) was not the Day of Atonement, the only fast the Law commanded. It identifies Gemariah as the son of Shaphan the scribe, distinguishing him from another Gemariah, and connects him to a family known to be friendly toward Jeremiah.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes draw attention to the historical precision of this event: a public fast is proclaimed in the ninth month, during Jehoiakim's fifth year, and Baruch reads Jeremiah's words publicly from a prominent chamber in the temple, making God's message accessible to all the gathered people.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill clarifies that this fast was not the regular annual fast but an extraordinary one proclaimed by the king and people, likely in response to the Chaldean threat. He also notes the careful chronology: this reading occurred two months after the earlier one, not a year later. Baruch read from a chamber overlooking the higher court at the new gate.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB stresses that the people, not the godless king, initiated the fast. Baruch read from a chamber window overlooking the court, not from the temple floor. The commentary also carefully distinguishes this Gemariah from another with the same name in Jeremiah 29.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange reads the princes' question to Baruch not as suspicion but as genuine curiosity about how Jeremiah dictated the words. He argues they wanted to know whether the prophet spoke consciously or in ecstasy, and Baruch's simple answer about dictation and ink shows nothing miraculous in the process.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes the practical setting: the reader likely stood at a window or balcony so the people gathered below could hear clearly. His observation highlights the careful arrangement made for the public reading of Scripture.