¹²Then he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace. All of the officials were sitting there. They included the secretary Elishama and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah. Elnathan, the son of Acbor, was also there. So was Gemariah, the son of Shaphan. Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, was there too. And so were all of the other officials. ¹³Micaiah told all of them what he had heard. He told them everything Baruch had read to the people from the scroll.

¹⁴All of the officials sent Jehudi to speak to Baruch, the son of Neriah. Jehudi was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Cushi. Jehudi said to Baruch, “Come. Bring the scroll you have read to the people.”

So Baruch went to them. He carried the scroll with him. ¹⁵The officials said to him, “Please sit down. Read the scroll to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶They heard all of its words. Then they looked at each other in fear. They said to Baruch, “We must report all of these words to the king.”

¹⁷They said to Baruch, “Tell us. How did you happen to write all of these things? Did Jeremiah tell you to do it?”

¹⁸“Yes,” Baruch replied. “He told me to write down all of these words. So I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

¹⁹Then the officials spoke to Baruch. They said, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

²⁰The officials put the scroll in the room of the secretary Elishama. Then they went to the king in the courtyard. They reported everything to him.

²¹The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from the room of the secretary Elishama. He read it to the king. All of the officials were standing beside the king. So they heard it too. ²²It was the ninth month. The king was sitting in his winter apartment. A fire was burning in the fire pot in front of him. ²³Jehudi read three or four columns from the scroll. Then the king cut them off with a secretary’s knife. He threw them into the fire pot. He did that until the entire scroll was burned up in the fire. ²⁴The king and some of his attendants heard all of those words. But they weren’t afraid. They didn’t tear their clothes.

²⁵Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll. But he wouldn’t listen to them.

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