²⁰ After leaving the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe, they went to the king’s court and told him everything. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he retrieved it from the room of Elishama the scribe. Then Jehudi read it to the king and all his royal officials who were standing next to the king. ²² Now it was the ninth month,^[a] and the king was staying in the winterized part of the palace with the firepot burning near him. ²³ And whenever Jehudi read three or four columns of the scroll, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot until the whole scroll was burned up. ²⁴ Neither the king nor any of his attendants who heard all these words were alarmed or tore their clothes. ²⁵ Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he wouldn’t listen to them.

²⁶ The king commanded Jerahmeel, the king’s son, along with Seraiah, Azriel’s son, and Shelemiah, Abdeel’s son, to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the Lord hid them.