Delaiah

About Delaiah

Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, is mentioned in Jeremiah 36 as one of the officials present when Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, read the prophet's scroll in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. This event took place during the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah.

After hearing the words of Jeremiah's scroll, Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, went to the king's house and reported the message to all the officials, including Delaiah (Jer.36.11-13). The officials then sent for Baruch and had him read the scroll to them. Alarmed by the message, they decided to report it to the king (Jer.36.14-16).

King Jehoiakim, after hearing a portion of the scroll, cut it with a scribe's knife and burned it in the fire, despite the pleas of some officials, including Delaiah, not to do so (Jer.36.25). This action demonstrated the king's rejection of God's word and his defiance against the prophetic message.

Delaiah's presence among the officials and his attempt to prevent the king from burning the scroll suggest that he had some level of influence in the royal court and that he recognized the significance of Jeremiah's message. However, his efforts, along with those of other officials, were unsuccessful in changing the king's response.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.