Jeremiah 36:20-26

The Voice

²⁰ After the officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they approached the king in the palace and told him everything they had heard. But the king was not satisfied. ²¹ So he ordered Jehudi to go and get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king and all his officials as they stood around him. ²² Since it was the ninth month and the colder winter weather had set in, the king had moved to a more sheltered apartment in the palace where he could stay warm by the fire. ²³ The king listened as Jehudi read column after column of the scroll. As soon as he finished reading three or four columns, Jehoiakim would take a knife, cut that section out of the scroll, and then throw it on the fire. This happened again and again until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. ²⁴ Neither the king nor his advisors seemed to be concerned about what they had just heard. They weren’t afraid. They didn’t tear their clothes in remorse and repentance.

²⁵ Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he ignored them. ²⁶ Instead, he ordered his son, Jerahmeel, along with Seraiah (son of Azriel) and Shelemiah (son of Abdeel), to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Eternal had already hidden them.