Jeremiah 36:5

5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord.

Jeremiah 36:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 36:5

And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] shut up
In prison, according to Jarchi; but this is not likely, for then there would have been no occasion for an order to take him, ( Jeremiah 36:26 ) . Grotius thinks he was obliged by the king's order to stay at home; possibly he might be restrained by the Spirit of God, or had not freedom in his own mind to go abroad; there might be a restraint, an impulse upon his spirit, by the Spirit of God. Some think he was under some legal pollution, which made him unfit to go into the temple: for it follows: I cannot go into the house of the Lord:
labouring either under some bodily infirmity, or ceremonial defilement, or was forbidden by the king. What was the true cause is not certain; but so it was, that either he was discharged, or disabled, or disqualified, from going into the house of God.

Jeremiah 36:5 In-Context

3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.

5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord.

6 You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord's house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities.

7 It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people."