Bible Strands
Jeremiah 36:25
Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah address the king in the palace chamber immediately after Baruch finishes reading the scroll. The moment captures the officials’ final appeal before the king’s destructive decree.
The words — הִפְגִּ֣עוּ (hif.Gi.'u) means they had made entreaty, and שְׂרֹ֖ף (se.Rof) means to burn. These verbs mark the contrast between the officials’ intervention and the king’s irreversible action.
The thread — The plea echoes Reuben’s intercession in Genesis 37:22 and the gathered officials in Jeremiah 36:12 who first received the scroll. Human appeals are consistently recorded alongside divine preservation, as seen in Acts 5:34.
Why it lands — The text states that the king refused to listen despite direct counsel from his servants. It asks the reader to acknowledge the limits of human intervention when authority chooses defiance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.
Cross-references
- Genesis 37:22 “Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.
- Jeremiah 36:12 he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.
- Acts 5:34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time.
- Genesis 37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
- Proverbs 21:29 A wicked man hardens his face, but the upright man makes his way sure.
- Jeremiah 13:15 Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
- Jeremiah 26:22 Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor along with some other men.
- Matthew 27:4 “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”
- Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”