Gemariah

Gemariah (meaning: accomplishment or perfection of the Lord) was the name of two biblical figures. The more prominent was the son of Shaphan the secretary, in whose chamber in the temple Baruch read the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies to all the people during the reign of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:10). When the scroll's contents were reported to the officials, Gemariah was among those who urged the king not to burn it (Jeremiah 36:25), aligning himself with the minority who recognized the prophetic word's authority — unlike his own father Shaphan, he could not prevent its destruction.

A second Gemariah son of Hilkiah served as an envoy sent by Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and through him Jeremiah sent his famous letter to the exiles encouraging them to settle in Babylon and seek its welfare (Jeremiah 29:3). Both men appear in the narrative of Jeremiah's ministry during the final years of the Judean kingdom, when the prophet's message was alternately preserved and suppressed by different factions at court. Gemariah son of Shaphan's restraining voice, even if ultimately ineffective, represents those who took seriously the written prophetic word.