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A Word No Fire Can Burn

A king burned the Lord’s scroll one strip at a time; the Lord promised to write His law where no knife can reach

  • 📖 Adult Sunday School
  • Week 44
  • 📅 Sunday, November 1, 2026
💡 The big idea

Words on a page can be ignored, cut up or burned, but when we let the Lord write His law in our hearts, it becomes part of who we are, gives us courage to act, and carries us through the ruins with mercies that are new every morning.

I can let the Lord write His word in my heart, act on it with courage when it costs me something, and look for His new mercies each morning.

Study it yourself firstRead Jeremiah 31–33; 36–39; Lamentations 1; 3 in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Jeremiah 31–33; 36–39; Lamentations 1; 3)
Know the chapters

This week’s chapters cover the last years before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, around 586 BC. They aren’t in time order. Chapter 36 comes first. It’s set in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim, about 605 BC, as 36:1 says. Chapters 37 to 39 come nearly twenty years later, while Babylon’s army surrounds the city. The king then is Zedekiah. His first year opens the Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi 1:4. Chapters 31 to 33 are a hopeful section often called the Book of Consolation. They come from those same dark years. In 32:6–15, Jeremiah buys a field during the siege. In 32:27 the Lord asks, “Is there any thing too hard for me?”

This lesson centers on Jeremiah 36. The Lord tells Jeremiah to write down all His words. In 36:3 He hopes the people will turn so He can forgive them. Jeremiah is barred from the temple. So he dictates to his scribe Baruch, who reads the scroll aloud on a fast day. It reaches King Jehoiakim in his winter house. In 36:22–23, the king cuts off a few columns at a time with a penknife. He drops them in the fire until the whole scroll is gone. His father, Josiah, tore his clothes in sorrow when a lost book of the law was read to him. That’s 2 Kings 22:11. The son burns it. In 36:28 and 32, the Lord simply has the scroll written again, with more added.

Set that scene beside Jeremiah 31:31–34. The Lord promises a new covenant. It isn’t law carved on stone or written on a scroll. It’s law put “in their inward parts” and written “in their hearts.” Paul picks up the image in 2 Corinthians 3:3. Hebrews 8:8–12 quotes the whole passage as fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Two other threads round out the week. One is Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian servant. In 38:7–13 he risks his standing to pull Jeremiah out of a muddy cistern. In 39:18 he’s promised deliverance “because thou hast put thy trust in me.” The other is Lamentations. These are poems of grief over the fallen city. At their center, in Lamentations 3:21–26, they turn to hope.

Twenty-five minutes goes quickly. Walk through Jeremiah 36 in five short readings, and spend real time on the heart question. Ebed-melech is ready as a bonus step. The field in Anathoth from Jeremiah 32 is in the extras.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Jeremiah 36 in five short stops: verses 1–3, 4–6, 16–19, 22–24 and 26–28. Bridge the gaps in a sentence. Open by asking what people once did because they were told to and now do out of love. Then read Jeremiah 31:33 and ask where the Lord wants to write His law. Spend the most time on From Paper to Heart. Close with a testimony or two.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Read Jeremiah 36 out loud once, then 31:31–34 and 38:6–13. Watch for 36:3, 23, 24 and 28. They carry the story.
  2. Think of your own honest answer to the opening question. If the room is quiet, your example opens the door.

Discussion tips

  • Quiet class? It may be a tired morning. Wait a little longer than feels comfortable, then share your own answer first.
  • One voice filling every pause? Thank them warmly, then say, “Let’s hear from someone who hasn’t had a chance yet.”
  • Lamentations speaks to real grief. It might be a death, a divorce, or a home or faith that feels like ruins. Don’t hurry anyone to verse 22. In Lamentations 3:21, the poet has spent twenty verses in the dark before he says, “therefore have I hope.” That honesty is part of the message.
  • Someone asks why the Lord let Jeremiah suffer so much for telling the truth? Don’t rush to tie it up. The Lord hid him in 36:26. He sent Ebed-melech in 38:10–13. He kept him alive through the city’s fall in 39:11–14. Deliverance often comes through people.
  • Visitors or new members? Explain that the chapters aren’t in time order. Show the references on the shared screen. Never ask anyone to read aloud without checking first.

The 25-minute plan25 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Each “On the screen” line is what the class sees on a shared screen in Teach Mode in the Gospel Sparks app; on paper, read it aloud or write it on the board.

1. Hook

Paper or Heart?

3 min

Opens with the difference between a rule we’re handed and a conviction we own, before anyone opens Jeremiah.

  1. SAY“Think of something you once did because you were told to. Now you do it because you love it. What is it?”
  2. Give them about 20 seconds to think. Then take three or four answers. Scripture study, tithing, the temple or kindness to a hard relative all count.
  3. SAY“Today a king cuts the Lord’s words into strips and burns them. And the Lord answers with a promise about hearts.”

On the screen: 📜 What did you once do because you were told to, that you now do out of love?

2. Story

Jeremiah 36 in Five Short Stops

9 min

Walks through Jeremiah 36 a few verses at a time, from the scroll to the fire to the scroll written again, with one question at each stop.

  1. SAY“We’ll walk through Jeremiah 36 in five short readings. Picture a winter room, a fire, and a scroll.”
  2. Show one scene at a time. You read the first and last, where the Lord speaks. You or a volunteer reads the rest.
  3. Before each reading, give the one-line bridge on the screen. Afterward, ask the scene’s question and take two or three answers.
  4. Keep each stop under two minutes. After the last reading, let the quiet sit for a few seconds.

On the screen: 🔥 Jeremiah 36: a scroll, a winter fire, and a king who felt nothing · Five short readings: 36:1–3 · 4–6 · 16–19 · 22–24 · 26–28

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: The shared screen (TV or device) with Teach Mode open

  1. SAY“We’ll walk through Jeremiah 36 in five short readings. Picture a winter room, a fire, and a scroll.”
  2. Read verses 1–3, 4–6, 16–19, 22–24 and 26–28. Give each bridge in your own words first. You read the first and last. A volunteer can read the others.
  3. After each reading, ask the scene’s question aloud and take two or three answers. Keep each stop under two minutes.
3. Scripture

Written in Their Hearts

4 min

Studies Jeremiah 31:33 closely so class members see what the Lord wants to do that no fire can undo.

  1. SAY“Here is the Lord’s answer to a burned scroll.”
  2. Read Jeremiah 31:33 while the class follows on the screen.
  3. Ask, “Where does the Lord promise to write His law?” Draw it out. Not on stone like Sinai. Not on a scroll like Baruch’s. It’s “in their hearts.”
  4. Read 2 Corinthians 3:3, “not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” Ask, “How does the Lord actually write on a heart?”
  5. Share Elder David A. Bednar’s questions from “From general conference” below. Let them sit for a moment.

On the screen: ❤️ “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” · Jeremiah 31:33 · What will the Lord write, and where?

4. Talk it over

From Paper to Heart

6 min

Helps adults notice how the Lord has written His word in their hearts, and what keeps them from cutting it out.

  1. SAY“A king could burn a scroll. He could never burn what the Lord writes in a heart. Let’s talk about how that writing happens.”
  2. Pick two or three questions. Ask one, wait, then ask its follow-up before you move on.
  3. Let silence work. Count to seven before you rescue a question. If needed, share your own experience first.
💬 Ask the class
  • Think of a truth you once knew only on paper. Now the Lord has written it in your heart. What is it? Follow-up: What did He use to write it? An experience? A person? A hard season?
  • Jehoiakim cut out the words he didn’t want. What are the quieter ways we set aside parts of the Lord’s word? Follow-up: What helps you keep listening when it’s uncomfortable?
  • Jeremiah 31:34 promises, “I will remember their sin no more.” Why does a changed heart need a Savior who forgives? Follow-up: What helps you believe He has let go of a sin you still remember?
  • Lamentations was written in the ruins of Jerusalem. Yet chapter 3, verses 22 and 23, say His compassions “are new every morning.” When have you found new mercy on a hard morning? Follow-up: How do you watch for it?

On the screen: ✍️ A king can burn a scroll. No one can burn what the Lord writes in a heart. · Jeremiah 31:33–34

5. Testimony

His Word in Us

3 min

Ends with testimony of Jesus Christ, who writes His law in willing hearts, and one simple invitation.

  1. SAY“Would one or two of you share a truth the Lord has written in your heart? Just a sentence or two is perfect.”
  2. Bear a short testimony. Jesus Christ keeps the new covenant. He forgives and remembers our sins no more, as Jeremiah 31:34 promises. His mercies are new every morning.
  3. Invite: “This week, choose one truth you know on paper. Live it every day, until it starts to feel like yours.”

On the screen: 📖 I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. · Jeremiah 31:34 · This week: live one truth until it’s yours.

6. Talk it over

Ropes and Old Rags

5 minBONUS

Shows what a law written in the heart looks like in action: an ordinary person doing right at a cost, and doing it kindly.

  1. SAY“Years later, officials lower Jeremiah into a cistern. That’s Jeremiah 38, verse 6. There’s no water, only mud. And he sinks in the mire.”
  2. Read Jeremiah 38:9–13, or ask a volunteer to. Point out verse 11. He used old rags so the ropes wouldn’t cut.
  3. Ask one or two questions with follow-ups, then close on time.
💬 Ask the class
  • Ebed-melech was a foreigner and a servant, not a prince. What might speaking up to the king have cost him? Follow-up: Why do you think he did it anyway?
  • He brought ropes, and also old rags so the ropes wouldn’t cut. What does that detail teach about helping someone well? Follow-up: Who has helped you that gently?
  • Who around us is sinking in some kind of mire right now? Follow-up: What might our ropes and rags be this week?

On the screen: 🪢 Ebed-melech brought thirty men, ropes, and old rags so the ropes wouldn’t cut. · Jeremiah 38:9–13; 39:18

Read it together

The King by the Fire

Jeremiah 36:1–3; Jeremiah 36:4–6; Jeremiah 36:16–19; Jeremiah 36:22–24; Jeremiah 36:26–28 ↗

Scenes

  1. ⏳ One more chance to turn

    It’s about six hundred and five years before Christ. Babylon is rising. Jerusalem is running out of time. Let’s read Jeremiah 36, verses 1 to 3. Listen for why the Lord wants every warning written down: “that I may forgive.”

    💬 Ask: The Lord’s warnings end in forgiveness. How does knowing why He warns change how you hear correction?

  2. ✍️ “I am shut up”

    Now verses 4 to 6. Jeremiah is barred from the temple. So he speaks, and his scribe Baruch writes. Then Baruch carries the scroll to the crowds on a fast day.

    💬 Ask: Baruch went where Jeremiah couldn’t. Who has carried the Lord’s word to you when you couldn’t reach it yourself?

  3. 😨 The princes are afraid

    In verses 7 to 15, Baruch reads the scroll at the temple. Word reaches the king’s officials. They have him read it to them too. Now read verses 16 to 19. Notice their first reaction. Then listen for their warning: “Go, hide thee.”

    💬 Ask: The princes were afraid, yet they still took it to the king. When has doing right meant carrying a hard message?

  4. 🔥 A penknife and a winter fire

    In verses 20 and 21, the scroll is read aloud to the king. Now read verses 22 to 24. Three or four leaves at a time. Cut off. Dropped in the fire. Until it’s gone. Years before, his father Josiah tore his clothes when he heard the law. That’s 2 Kings 22, verse 11.

    💬 Ask: Jehoiakim felt nothing. What slowly makes a heart stop feeling the Lord’s word?

  5. 📜 “Take thee again another roll”

    In verse 25, three officials beg the king not to burn it. He burns it anyway. Now read verses 26 to 28. Verses 29 to 31 bring a word of judgment on the king. Then verse 32 says the new scroll had “many like words” added.

    💬 Ask: The Lord’s answer to the fire was quiet and patient. What does that tell you about His word, and about Him?

Key verse

Jeremiah 31:33 ↗
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
In plain words: The Lord promises a covenant that isn’t only on stone or paper. He will write His law inside us, in our hearts, so that knowing Him and belonging to Him become part of who we are.

More verses

Jeremiah 36:28 ↗
“Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.”
In plain words: A king can burn the page, but he can’t burn the Lord’s word. The Lord simply has it written again.
Jeremiah 39:18 ↗
“For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.”
In plain words: The Lord promises to save Ebed-melech, the servant who rescued Jeremiah, and names the reason: he trusted the Lord.
Lamentations 3:22–23 ↗
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
In plain words: Even among the ruins, the Lord’s mercy hasn’t run out. It comes fresh every morning, because He is faithful.
Jeremiah 32:27 ↗
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”
In plain words: With an army outside the walls, the Lord asks a question that answers itself: nothing is too hard for Him.

From general conference

“Are the truths of the Savior’s gospel written in the fleshy tables of our hearts? Are we coming unto and gradually becoming more like Him?”

— Elder David A. Bednar, ““Abide in Me, and I in You; Therefore Walk with Me”,” April 2023

Share in Written in Their Hearts, right after reading 2 Corinthians 3:3.

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • Redeemer of Israel Hymns, no. 6

    A hymn about the Lord gathering and restoring His scattered people, the hope Jeremiah held out in the ruins. Find it ↗

  • We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet Hymns, no. 19

    Jehoiakim burned a prophet’s words; this hymn gives thanks for prophets who guide us. Find it ↗

This week’s invitation

From Paper to Heart

Pick one gospel truth you know “on paper” but haven’t fully lived. Practice it every day this week until it starts to feel like yours. Then be someone’s ropes and rags. Notice one person who’s sinking and gently help them out.

Take it home

In Sunday School we read how King Jehoiakim burned Jeremiah’s scroll, and the Lord had it written again. We read how Ebed-melech pulled Jeremiah from a muddy pit with ropes and old rags. In Jeremiah 31:33 the Lord promised to write His law in our hearts. At home, have everyone name one thing they do out of love, not because they’re told to. Read Lamentations 3:22–23 together some morning this week.

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

🤫 Is There Any Word from the Lord? · 4 min

  1. Read Jeremiah 37:16–17. King Zedekiah secretly asks Jeremiah, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
  2. Read Jeremiah 38:19–20. Notice what the king was afraid of.
  3. Ask, “Why do we sometimes ask for the Lord’s counsel in private but hesitate to follow it in public?” Follow-up: “What helps us close that gap?”

🕊️ Rachel Weeping · 4 min

  1. Read Jeremiah 31:15–17. Rachel weeps for her children, and the Lord promises, “there is hope in thine end.”
  2. Read Matthew 2:17–18. Matthew applies the verse to the grief in Bethlehem after Jesus was born.
  3. Ask, “How can the Lord’s promises comfort grief without brushing it aside?”

⛵ The Son Who Escaped · 4 min

  1. Read Jeremiah 39:6–7. King Zedekiah’s sons are killed before his eyes.
  2. Read Helaman 8:21 and Omni 1:15–16. One son, Mulek, survived, and his people came to the promised land.
  3. Ask, “What does it mean to you that the Lord saved a remnant even on Jerusalem’s worst day?”

🌾 A Field in a Doomed Land · 5 min

  1. Read Jeremiah 32:7–9. Babylon’s army is at the walls. Jeremiah buys his cousin’s field in Anathoth for seventeen shekels.
  2. Read Jeremiah 32:14–15. The deed goes in a clay jar, because fields “shall be possessed again in this land.”
  3. Read 32:17 and 32:27 side by side. Ask, “What ‘fields’ do we invest in now because we believe the Lord’s promises?”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

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