Day Fifty-Seven -- You can burn a scroll, but the message endures

Jeremiah 33:23 to Jeremiah 47:7

Time is getting short for Jerusalem, and the kings that Jeremiah is trying to warn are still defying the LORD's prophecies.  King Jehoiakim is so arrogant that as the scroll containing Jeremiah's words is being read to him he cuts it up piece-by-piece and burns it in the brazier that he's using to warm himself.  As he shows no regard for the LORD or Jeremiah, so will the LORD show no regard for Jehoiakim, his family, or his household.  King Zedekiah seemed to have a sympathetic ear for Jeremiah, but under his reign Jeremiah was first thrown into prison and then into a cistern before being placed under a sort of house arrest in the courtyard of the guard.

Nothing, however, will prevent the LORD from using the Babylonians to administer his judgment on the kings and Jerusalem.  The city is finally conquered and everyone except some of the very poorest of the people are taken into exile.  The fate of Jeremiah seems uncertain as he is at first bound in chains and headed to Babylon, and then freed and given the option of going freely to Babylon or returning to live among those left in the land.  He chooses to head back, and there amidst various power struggles he continues to prophesy to all of the surrounding nations and peoples.  Jeremiah is either unable to stop or unwilling to stop pronouncing the LORD's words.  Will he remain unscathed?  Will others try to silence him?  Will he ultimately end up in exile?  Stay tuned. . .