סָפַר

March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,

…consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?

You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle—are they not in Your book?

By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.

They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me.

For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded.

My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure.

If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children.

But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.

For the choirmaster: To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A song. We give thanks to You, O God; we give thanks, for Your Name is near. The people declare Your wondrous works.

…that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.

We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.

…that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.

The LORD will record in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.” Selah

Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.

…that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem,

Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.

With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth.

I recounted my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your statutes.

If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

They will proclaim the power of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.

Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.

Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz

The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

…so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard.

How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?

They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.

Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.

“Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD.

As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

From 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.

…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.

So the officials went to the king in the courtyard. And having stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, they reported everything to the king.

Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing beside him.

And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire.

Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, as well as Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and at Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”