Bible Strands
Jeremiah 36:9
Now 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records that during the ninth month of Jehoiakim’s fifth regnal year, a decree mandated a fast before the LORD for Jerusalem’s residents and Judah’s displaced populations. The proclamation occurs immediately after Baruch prepares the scroll and precedes his public reading at the New Gate.
The words — וַיְהִי (va/y.Hi) translates literally as “and it was,” functioning as a narrative hinge into the chronological framework. בַּשָּׁנָה הַחֲמִשִׁית (ba/sha.Nah ha/cha.mi.shit) means “in the fifth year,” anchoring the event to Jehoiakim’s reign.
The thread — Official fasting proclamations appear in 2 Chronicles 20:3 during Jehoshaphat’s military crisis and in Esther 4:16 as a coordinated response to existential threat. Jeremiah 36:22 later references the identical ninth month, confirming the seasonal timeline of Jehoiakim’s winter court.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe how state authority structures religious response during national crisis. A reader must note that the fast operates as an administrative decree rather than a spontaneous expression of personal piety.
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
And 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.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 20:3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
- Esther 4:16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
- Jeremiah 36:22 Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning before him.
- Jonah 3:5 And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
- Leviticus 23:27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, and present a food offering to the LORD.
- Nehemiah 9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.
- Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Jeremiah 36:1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
- Joel 1:13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
- Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”