Jeremiah 36:16
Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.
The verse belongs to the account of the Lord's reproofs to ancient Israel through Jeremiah's scroll, which Baruch read aloud in the hearers' ears, even to the king, and whose burning showed the reproofs were not received. Hearing all the words made the princes afraid, both one toward another, and convinced them the words must surely be told to the king. When they asked Baruch how he had written all the words at Jeremiah's mouth, he answered that Jeremiah had pronounced them with his mouth and he had written them with ink in the book. The princes then told Baruch and Jeremiah to go and hide themselves where no man knew where they were.
That fear in the princes stands in contrast to the king and his servants, who heard the same words and were not afraid and did not rend their garments. Despite pleas and intercession that the roll not be burned, the king cut it up with a penknife and burned it in the fire. Burning the written words could not destroy God's message, for it was written again with still more words added to it. God thus repeats His messages of warning, and He punishes defiance of them.
Professed people who have great light and reject messages of warning virtually repeat Jehoiakim's act of burning the messages of the Spirit of God. In doing so they trifle with the Lord and waste the time He has given for repentance and reform in criticism and selfish devisings. They pass the boundary line, lose His Spirit, and bring upon themselves the evil pronounced against them.