15. They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
16. When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”
17. Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”
18. “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
19. Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.