<p class="bodytext">The officials put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the royal secretary, for safekeeping.<n id="1" /> Then they went to the court and reported everything<n id="2" /> to the king.<n id="3" />

The officials were very angry<n id="1" /> at Jeremiah. They had him flogged and put in prison in the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary, which they had converted into a place for confining prisoners.<n id="2" />p>

But now please listen, your royal Majesty,<n id="1" /> and grant my plea for mercy.<n id="2" /> Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the royal secretary. If you do, I will die there.&#8221;<n id="3" />

When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about,<n id="1" /> and knowledge will increase.&#8221;p>

&#8220;Go, seek an oracle from<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> for me and the people &#8211; for all Judah. Find out about<n id="2" /> the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s fury has been ignited against us,<n id="3" /> because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

&#8220;Go, seek an oracle from<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> for me and those who remain in Israel and Judah. Find out about<n id="2" /> the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s fury has been ignited against us,<n id="3" /> because our ancestors<n id="4" /> have not obeyed the word of the <sc>Lordsc> by doing all that this scroll instructs!&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, &#8220;Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease?<n id="1" /> Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn<n id="1" /> and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Your servants melted down the silver in the temple<n id="2" /> and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.&#8221;

The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king&#8217;s servant,

&#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Solomon took a census<n id="1" /> of all the male resident foreigners in the land of Israel, after the census his father David had taken. There were 153,600 in all.

Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and reported,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Your servants are doing everything assigned to them.

&#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which they read before the king of Judah.

The king stood by his pillar<n id="1" /> and renewed<n id="2" /> the covenant before the <sc>Lordsc>, agreeing to follow<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being,<n id="4" /> by carrying out the terms<n id="5" /> of this covenant recorded on this scroll.

all the people gathered together<n id="1" /> in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked<n id="2" /> Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the <sc>LORDsc> had commanded Israel.

<p class="bodytext">Ezra the scribe stood on a towering wooden platform<n id="1" /> constructed for this purpose. Standing near him on his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Masseiah. On his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

<p class="bodytext">Then Nehemiah the governor,<n id="1" /> Ezra the priestly scribe,<n id="2" /> and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them,<n id="3" /> &#8220;This day is holy to the <sc>LORDsc> your God. Do not mourn or weep.&#8221; For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law.

But when the matter came to the king&#8217;s attention, the king<n id="1" /> gave written orders that Haman&#8217;s<n id="2" /> evil intentions that he had devised against the Jews should fall on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows.