Jeremiah 36:24-25

(24-25) Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments . . .—If we suppose that the “servants” are identical with the princes, these were the very men who, when they first heard the words, had been afraid, “both one and other.” Now the king’s presence restrains them, and they dare not show their alarm at the contents of the scroll, nor “rend their clothes” (comp. Matthew 26:65; Acts 14:14) at what must have seemed to them the sacrilege of burning a scroll that contained a message from Jehovah. Three only had the courage, though they did not show their abhorrence, to entreat the king to refrain from his impiety. (See Note on Jeremiah 36:12.) Possibly, however, the “servants” or “courtiers” are distinguished from the princes, and are specially named in the next verse.