Jeremiah 36:1

The Lord sent a message to Jeremiah in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim’s reign, sometime between April of 605 and April of 604 B.C. (cf. Jeremiah 25:1)

"The preaching of Jeremiah offers Judah an opportunity to turn from their sinful ways and avoid destruction, but Jehoiakim’s rejection of the prophetic word brings Judah under a sentence of irrevocable judgment. The ’fourth year of Jehoiakim’ (605 BC) is a critical moment in Judah’s history where the fate of the nation is sealed and Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar emerges as the human instrument of divine judgment. Deliverance is reserved for only a tiny minority (the Rechabites and Baruch) who reflect faithfulness in their lives. National restoration will only come in the distant future when that faithfulness characterizes the nation as a whole (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34)." [Note: Gary E. Yates, "Narrative Parallelism and the ’Jehoiakim Frame’: A Reading Strategy for Jeremiah 26-45," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 48:2 (June 2005):281.]