15. Then the officers said to Baruch, “Please sit down and read the scroll to us.”So Baruch read the scroll to them.
16. When the officers heard all the words, they became afraid and looked at each other. They said to Baruch, “We must certainly tell the king about these words.”
17. Then the officers asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, where did you get all these words you wrote on the scroll? Did you write down what Jeremiah said to you?”
18. “Yes,” Baruch answered. “Jeremiah spoke them all to me, and I wrote them down with ink on this scroll.”
19. Then the officers said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide, and don’t tell anyone where you are.”
20. The officers put the scroll in the room of Elishama the royal secretary. Then they went to the king in the courtyard and told him all about the scroll.
21. So King Jehoiakim sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought the scroll from the room of Elishama the royal secretary and read it to the king and to all the officers who stood around the king.
22. It was the ninth month of the year, so King Jehoiakim was sitting in the winter apartment. There was a fire burning in a small firepot in front of him.
23. After Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut those columns off of the scroll with a penknife and threw them into the firepot. Finally, the whole scroll was burned in the fire.
24. King Jehoiakim and his servants heard everything that was said, but they were not frightened! They did not tear their clothes to show their sorrow.
25. Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah even tried to talk King Jehoiakim out of burning the scroll, but he would not listen to them.
26. Instead, the king ordered Jerahmeel son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
27. So King Jehoiakim burned the scroll where Baruch had written all the words Jeremiah had spoken to him. Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah:
28. “Get another scroll. Write all the words on it that were on the first scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.