The people call a fast before the Lord in the fifth year of the ninth month of Jehoiakim’s reign. This is about two months after Jeremiah called Baruch to help him write the scroll. Baruch reads the scroll in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.
It was Shaphan who read the scroll that was discovered in the temple during the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 22:3–23:3). His son Gemariah is an official in Jehoiakim’s government. Gemariah appears to be sympathetic to Jeremiah and allows Baruch to read Jeremiah’s scroll in his chamber. The chamber was in the upper court, and so people gathered for the fast in the temple courtyard below would hear and see Baruch as he read.1
9 La cinquième année de Jojakim, fils de Josias, roi de Juda, le neuvième mois, on publia un jeûne devant l'Eternel pour tout le peuple de Jérusalem et pour tout le peuple venu des villes de Juda à Jérusalem.