With the scene set in the previous verse, the Lord now instructs Jeremiah to write all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.
Jeremiah is to make a written record of the messages the Lord has given him since his ministry began about twenty-two years earlier when Josiah was king. There is no way of knowing exactly what the content of the scroll was. It is to have words spoken against
Israel, Judah, and the nations and so they are mostly words of judgment spoken before 605 BC. This could include material from Jeremiah 1:1–25:38 and Jeremiah 46:1–51:64. The scroll was also short enough to be read in one sitting.1 We should also not assume that this is the first time that Jeremiah has recorded any of his sermons in writing. The main means of communicating for prophets was certainly oral, but no doubt some of those sermons would have been written down as well. These written sermons could have been used in compiling the scroll that Jeremiah is to produce.2
The scroll would have been made of either papyrus or leather and would typically be about 25 centimetres wide and up to 9 metres long. It would be rolled lengthwise on two pieces of wood. The words would be written in columns running from the top to the bottom (landscape) and from right to left. As the scroll was read it would be rolled from the left stick onto the right one.3
2 Prends un livre, et tu y écriras toutes les paroles que je t'ai dites sur Israël et sur Juda, et sur toutes les nations, depuis le jour où je t'ai parlé, au temps de Josias, jusqu'à ce jour.