I will produce portents both in the sky ¹  and on the earth – blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

I will send men against it to destroy it ¹  with their axes and hatchets. They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns and throw them into the fire.

The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ¹  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ²  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ¹  of the scroll, the king ²  would cut them off with a penknife ³  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ⁴