“Then all the officials
Sent Jehudi,
The son of Nethaniah,
The son of Shelemiah,
The son of Cushi,
To say to Baruch.
‘Bring the scroll
That you read
In the hearing
Of the people.
Come!’
So Baruch,
The son of Neriah,
Took the scroll
In his hand.
He came to them.
They said to him.
‘Sit down!
Read it to us!’
So Baruch read it to them.
When they heard
All the words,
They turned to one another
In alarm.
They said to Baruch.
‘We certainly must report
All these words
To the king.’”
These royal officials sent a man named Jehudi to get Baruch. Jehudi has three generations of ancestors listed, instead of the usual one or two. Jehudi may mean Jew. Perhaps his great grandfather was an Ethiopian or Cushite, so that his family may have converted to Judaism, giving him this name. Anyway, this man was sent to get Baruch to come before the royal officials with his scroll so that they could hear the exact words of this scroll for themselves. When Baruch came with his scroll, they asked him to sit down like a distinguished teacher. He then read the words of the scroll that he had written under the dictation of Jeremiah. These officials seemed alarmed. They told Baruch that they were going to report the words from the scroll to the king directly. There was nothing secret about this, since Baruch had publically proclaimed these words a little earlier.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 