Jeremiah instructs his secretary, Baruch, to write down in a scroll everything that God has told Jeremiah concerning the destruction of Judah. Jeremiah then sends Baruch to read it to the people in the temple because Jeremiah cannot go himself. It is not explained why Jeremiah cannot go to the temple again, but we an guess it has something to do with him nearly getting lynched the last time he went.
This raises a question, was Jeremiah illiterate? Having secretaries was a common practice in those days. The text in this account has the king himself using a secretary. However, the literacy rates were far lower than today.
If the only example we have about Jeremiah is that he used a secretary on at least one occasion and without anything more, I think he was probably illiterate. Otherwise he would probably have written the scroll himself.
That said, we don't know either way.
Back to the story, Baruch reads Jeremiah's scroll to the people and eventually the scroll finds its way to the king. The king has it read and then burns each portion as it is read. He then hunts for Jeremiah and Baruch to kill them, but they are in hiding. God is not happy with this and has Jeremiah and Baruch re-write the scroll.
In chapter 45, Jeremiah has a specific prophecy for Baruch. Baruch feels sorrow and pain, the details of which are not stated. However, God will allow Baruch to escape with his life during the oncoming destruction.
Jeremiah 46
This chapter recounts a prophecy that Jeremiah has about the defeat of Egypt by the Babylonians.
It uses various familiar ideas like God's "punishment" is the reason for the defeat. However, I think there actually is something profound going on. Jeremiah is learning, through this prophecy, about a contemporary political changes in the world. It's like a news report from abroad that we take for granted today in the age of Internet and phones.
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