Jeremiah 36:5

5 And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, "I am prevented from entering 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 when the house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah's dictation all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him.
5 And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, "I am prevented from entering the house of the Lord;
6 so you go yourself, and on a fast day in the hearing of the people in the Lord's house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come up from their towns.
7 It may be that their plea will come before the Lord, and that all of them will turn from their evil ways, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.