17 They also asked Baruch, saying: “Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?”
18 Then Baruch answered them: “He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink into the scroll.”
19 Then the officials said to Baruch: “Go, hide yourself—you and Jeremiah—and let no one know where you are.”
20 Then they went to the king in the courtyard, after they had deposited the megillah in the chamber of the scribe Elishama. They reported all the words in the ears of the king.
21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the megillah , and he brought it out of the chamber of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king.
22 Since it was the ninth month, the king was residing in the winter house, with a fireplace burning before him.
23 Now as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, he cut it with the scribe’s knife and tossed it into the fire that was in the fireplace, until the whole megillah was consumed in the fire in the fireplace.