^36:20The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the royal secretary, for safekeeping.³⁵ Then they went to the court and reported everything³⁶ to the king.³⁷^36:21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He went and got it from the room of Elishama, the royal secretary. Then he himself³⁸ read it to the king and all the officials who were standing around him. ^36:22Since it was the ninth month of the year, the king was sitting in his winter quarters.³⁹ A fire was burning in the firepot in front of him.⁴⁰^36:23As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns⁴¹ of the scroll, the king⁴² would cut them off with a penknife⁴³ and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire.⁴⁴

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Footnotes

35 Heb “they deposited.” For the usage of the verb here see 824 פָּקַד Hiph.2.b and compare the usage in Jer 37:21 where it is used for “confining” Jeremiah in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
36 Heb “all the matters.” Compare the translator’s note on v. .
37 Both here and in the next verse the Hebrew has “in the ears of” before “the king” (and also before “all the officials”). As in v. 15 these words are not represented in the translation due to the awkwardness of the idiom in contemporary English (see the translator’s note on v. ).
38 Heb “and Jehudi read it.” However, Jehudi has been the subject of the preceding; so it would be awkward in English to use the personal subject. The translation has chosen to bring out the idea that Jehudi himself read it by using the reflexive.
39 Heb “in the autumn house.” Commentators are agreed that this was not a separate building or palace but the winter quarters in the palace. Larger houses, including the palace, were two-storied buildings with a lower quarters better suited for the cold of winter and an upper quarters which was better ventilated to provide cool in the summer. Since this was the ninth month (December) the king had taken up residence in the lower, warmer quarters which were equipped with a portable fire pot or brazier to keep him warm.
40 Heb “the fire in the firepot was burning before him.” The translation assumes that the word “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) has dropped out after the particle אֶת (’et) because of the similar beginnings of the two words. The word “fire” is found in the Greek, , and Targumic translations according to . The particle אֵת should be retained rather than dropped as an erroneous writing of אֵשׁ. Its presence is to be explained as the usage of the sign of the accusative introducing a new subject (cf. 85 אֶת 3.α and compare the usage in 27:8; 38:16 [in the Kethib]; 45:4).
41 Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.
42 Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.
43 Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.
44 Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Then, after depositing the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, the officials came to the king at the courtyard and reported everything in the hearing of the king. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi then read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king. Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in front of him. As soon as Jehudi would read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut the scroll with a scribe’s knife and throw the columns into the fire in the hearth until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth.

NLTNew Living Translation

Then the officials left the scroll for safekeeping in the room of Elishama the secretary and went to tell the king what had happened.

The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by. It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm. Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And they went to the king, to the courtyard, and they put the scroll for safe-keeping in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words in the hearing of the king. Then the king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and Jehudi read it aloud in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the officials who stood next to the king. Now the king was sitting in the quarters of the winter in the ninth month, and a fire-pot was burning before him. And then, as Jehudi read three or four columns, he would cut it up in pieces with the knife of the scribe, and he would throw it into the fire that was in the fire-pot until the whole of the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire-pot.

KJV 1900King James Version

And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

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