Jeremiah 35-43

English Standard Version

The Obedience of the Rechabites

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of ^(A)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ²“Go to the house of the ^(B)Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of ^(C)the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.” ³So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. ⁴I brought them to the house of the Lord into ^(D)the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, ^(E)the man of God, which was near ^(F)the chamber of the officials, above ^(G)the chamber of ^(H)Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^(I)keeper of the threshold. ⁵Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.” ⁶But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for ^(J)Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever. ⁷You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, ^(K)that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ ⁸We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, ¹⁰but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹But ^(L)when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of ^(M)the army of the Chaldeans and ^(N)the army of the Syrians.’ ^(O)So we are living in Jerusalem.”

¹²Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^(P)Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the Lord. ¹⁴The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. I have spoken to you ^(Q)persistently, but you have not listened to me. ¹⁵I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them ^(R)persistently, saying, ^(S)‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and ^(T)do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ ^(U)But you did not incline your ear or listen to me. ¹⁶The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me. ¹⁷Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, ^(V)because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, ^(W)I have called to them and they have not answered.”

¹⁸But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, ¹⁹therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man ^(X)to stand before me.”

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll

36 In the ^(Y)fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Take ^(Z)a scroll and ^(AA)write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and ^(AB)Judah ^(AC)and all the nations, ^(AD)from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. ³^(AE)It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, ^(AF)so that every one may turn from his evil way, and ^(AG)that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴Then Jeremiah called ^(AH)Baruch the son of Neriah, and ^(AI)Baruch wrote on ^(AJ)a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. ⁵And Jeremiah ordered ^(AK)Baruch, saying, ^(AL)“I am banned from going to the house of the Lord, ⁶so you are to go, and ^(AM)on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. ⁷^(AN)It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, ^(AO)and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” ⁸And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.

⁹^(AP)In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^(AQ)in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem ^(AR)proclaimed a fast before the Lord. ¹⁰Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the Lord, in ^(AS)the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord's house.

¹¹When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of ^(AT)Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, ¹²he went down to the king's house, into the secretary's chamber, and ^(AU)all the officials were sitting there: ^(AV)Elishama the secretary, ^(AW)Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, ^(AX)Elnathan ^(AY)the son of Achbor, ^(AZ)Gemariah the son of ^(BA)Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. ¹³And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of ^(BB)Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. ¹⁵And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, ^(BC)“We must report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” ¹⁸Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, ^(BD)while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.” ¹⁹Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”

²⁰So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in ^(BE)the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. ²¹Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. ²²It was ^(BF)the ninth month, and the king was sitting in ^(BG)the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. ²³As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. ²⁴Yet ^(BH)neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, ^(BI)nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵Even when ^(BJ)Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^(BK)urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶And the king commanded Jerahmeel the ^(BL)king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and ^(BM)Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize ^(BN)Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

²⁷Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁸“Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, ^(BO)“Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” ³⁰Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ^(BP)He shall have none ^(BQ)to sit on the throne of David, ^(BR)and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. ³¹^(BS)And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’”

³²Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to ^(BT)Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who ^(BU)wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

37 ^(BV)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, ^(BW)whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^(BX)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. ²^(BY)But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

³King Zedekiah sent ^(BZ)Jehucal the son of ^(CA)Shelemiah, and ^(CB)Zephaniah the priest, the son of ^(CC)Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please ^(CD)pray for us to the Lord our God.” ⁴^(CE)Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, ^(CF)for he had not yet been put in prison. ⁵^(CG)The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when ^(CH)the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, ^(CI)they withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷“Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who ^(CJ)sent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, ^(CK)Pharaoh's army that came to help you is about to ^(CL)return to Egypt, to its own land. ⁸And ^(CM)the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^(CN)They shall capture it and burn it with fire. ⁹Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. ¹⁰^(CO)For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^(CP)burn this city with fire.’”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹Now when ^(CQ)the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh's army, ¹²Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to ^(CR)the land of Benjamin ^(CS)to receive his portion there ^(CT)among the people. ¹³When he was at ^(CU)the Benjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of ^(CV)Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ^(CW)“You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” ¹⁴And Jeremiah said, “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to ^(CX)the officials. ¹⁵And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him ^(CY)and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.

¹⁶^(CZ)When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, ¹⁷King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him ^(DA)secretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, ^(DB)“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, ^(DC)that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹^(DD)Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? ²⁰Now hear, please, O my lord the king: ^(DE)let my humble plea come before you and ^(DF)do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there.” ²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to ^(DG)the court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers' street, ^(DH)until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in ^(DI)the court of the guard.

Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(DJ)Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^(DK)Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: ²“Thus says the Lord: ^(DL)He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(DM)but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. ³Thus says the Lord: ^(DN)This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” ⁴Then the officials said to the king, ^(DO)“Let this man be put to death, ^(DP)for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking ^(DQ)the welfare of this people, but their harm.” ⁵King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, ^(DR)for the king can do nothing against you.” ⁶So they took Jeremiah ^(DS)and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in ^(DT)the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down ^(DU)by ropes. ^(DV)And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and ^(DW)Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern

⁷When ^(DX)Ebed-melech ^(DY)the Ethiopian, ^(DZ)a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting ^(EA)in the Benjamin Gate— ⁸^(EB)Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king, ⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of ^(EC)hunger, ^(ED)for there is no bread left in the city.” ¹⁰Then the king commanded ^(EE)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹So ^(EF)Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern ^(EG)by ropes. ¹²Then ^(EH)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and ^(EI)the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. ¹³Then they drew Jeremiah up with ^(EJ)ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the ^(EK)court of the guard.

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again

¹⁴King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” ¹⁵Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶Then King Zedekiah swore ^(EL)secretly to Jeremiah, ^(EM)“As the Lord lives, ^(EN)who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of ^(EO)these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(EP)If you will surrender to ^(EQ)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(ER)then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸But if you do not surrender to ^(ES)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(ET)then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(EU)and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” ¹⁹King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^(EV)who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” ²⁰Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, ^(EW)and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. ²¹But if you refuse to ^(EX)surrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me: ²²Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,

^(EY)“‘Your trusted friends have deceived you
and prevailed against you;
now that your feet are sunk in the mud,
they turn away from you.’

²³All your wives and ^(EZ)your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵If ^(FA)the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶then you shall say to them, ^(FB)‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸And Jeremiah remained ^(FC)in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

The Fall of Jerusalem

39 ^(FD)In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. ²In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³Then all ^(FE)the officials of the king of Babylon came ^(FF)and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim ^(FG)the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. ⁴When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward ^(FH)the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in ^(FI)the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at ^(FJ)Riblah, in the land of Hamath; ^(FK)and he passed sentence on him. ⁶The king of Babylon ^(FL)slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at ^(FM)Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon ^(FN)slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. ⁷^(FO)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. ⁸^(FP)The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, ^(FQ)and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Then ^(FR)Nebuzaradan, the ^(FS)captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, ^(FT)those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. ¹⁰Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, ^(FU)left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

The Lord Delivers Jeremiah

¹¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, ¹²^(FV)“Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” ¹³So ^(FW)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, ^(FX)and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴sent and took Jeremiah from ^(FY)the court of the guard. They entrusted him to ^(FZ)Gedaliah the son of ^(GA)Ahikam, son of ^(GB)Shaphan, that he should take him home. So ^(GC)he lived among the people.

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah ^(GD)while he was shut up in the court of the guard: ¹⁶“Go, and say to ^(GE)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(GF)Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and ^(GG)not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. ¹⁷But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men ^(GH)of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your ^(GI)life as a prize of war, ^(GJ)because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

Jeremiah Remains in Judah

40 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(GK)after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from ^(GL)Ramah, when he took him ^(GM)bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. ²The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, ^(GN)“The Lord your God pronounced this disaster against this place. ³The Lord has brought it about, and has done as he said. ^(GO)Because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you. ⁴Now, behold, I release you today from ^(GP)the chains on your hands. ^(GQ)If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, ^(GR)but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. ^(GS)See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go. ⁵If you remain,^[a] then return to ^(GT)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, ^(GU)whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go. ⁶Then Jeremiah went to ^(GV)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^(GW)Mizpah, and lived with him ^(GX)among the people ^(GY)who were left in the land.

⁷^(GZ)When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that ^(HA)the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of ^(HB)the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon, ⁸they went to Gedaliah at ^(HC)Mizpah—^(HD)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, ^(HE)Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, ^(HF)Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ⁹Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, ^(HG)and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰As for me, I will dwell at ^(HH)Mizpah, to represent you before the Chaldeans who will come to us. But as for you, ^(HI)gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in ^(HJ)Moab and among ^(HK)the Ammonites and in ^(HL)Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, ¹²^(HM)then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they ^(HN)gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.

¹³Now ^(HO)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(HP)all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of ^(HQ)the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Please let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered, ^(HR)and the remnant of Judah would perish?” ¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.”

Gedaliah Murdered

41 ^(HS)In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^(HT)Mizpah. As they ^(HU)ate bread together there at Mizpah, ²^(HV)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, ^(HW)whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. ³Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at ^(HX)Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

⁴On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, ⁵eighty men arrived from ^(HY)Shechem and ^(HZ)Shiloh and ^(IA)Samaria, with ^(IB)their beards shaved and ^(IC)their clothes torn, and ^(ID)their bodies gashed, ^(IE)bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. ⁶And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from ^(IF)Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” ⁷When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. ⁸But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have ^(IG)stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.

⁹Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with^[b] Gedaliah was the large cistern that ^(IH)King Asa had made for defense against ^(II)Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^(IJ)the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom ^(IK)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to ^(IL)the Ammonites.

¹¹But when ^(IM)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(IN)all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at ^(IO)the great pool that is in ^(IP)Gibeon. ¹³And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(IQ)all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. ¹⁴^(IR)So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to ^(IS)the Ammonites. ¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(IT)all the leaders of the forces with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—soldiers, ^(IU)women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from ^(IV)Gibeon. ¹⁷And they went and stayed at Geruth ^(IW)Chimham near ^(IX)Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, ^(IY)whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Warning Against Going to Egypt

42 Then ^(IZ)all the commanders of the forces, and ^(JA)Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of ^(JB)Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(JC)from the least to the greatest, came near ²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let ^(JD)our plea for mercy come before you, and ^(JE)pray to the Lord your God for us, for all ^(JF)this remnant—^(JG)because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— ³that ^(JH)the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” ⁴Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and ^(JI)whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. ^(JJ)I will keep nothing back from you.” ⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, ^(JK)“May the Lord be a true and ^(JL)faithful witness against us ^(JM)if we do not act according to all the word ^(JN)with which the Lord your God sends you to us. ⁶Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, ^(JO)that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

⁷^(JP)At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸Then he summoned ^(JQ)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(JR)all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people ^(JS)from the least to the greatest, ⁹and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(JT)to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: ¹⁰If you will remain in this land, ^(JU)then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; ^(JV)for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. ¹¹^(JW)Do not fear the king of Babylon, ^(JX)of whom you are afraid. ^(JY)Do not fear him, declares the Lord, ^(JZ)for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²^(KA)I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ¹³^(KB)But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God ¹⁴and saying, ‘No, ^(KC)we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or ^(KD)hear the sound of the trumpet or ^(KE)be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ ¹⁵then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(KF)If you set your faces to enter Egypt ^(KG)and go to live there, ¹⁶then the sword ^(KH)that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, ^(KI)and there you shall die. ¹⁷All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have ^(KJ)no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

¹⁸“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(KK)As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. ^(KL)You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. ¹⁹The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ^(KM)‘Do not go to Egypt.’ ^(KN)Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day ²⁰that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. ^(KO)For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ^(KP)‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and ^(KQ)whatever the Lord our God says, declare to us and we will do it.’ ²¹And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything ^(KR)that he sent me to tell you. ²²^(KS)Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, ²Azariah the son of ^(KT)Hoshaiah and ^(KU)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(KV)all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, ^(KW)‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ ³but ^(KX)Baruch the son of Neriah ^(KY)has set you against us, ^(KZ)to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” ⁴So ^(LA)Johanan the son of Kareah and all ^(LB)the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took ^(LC)all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— ⁶^(LD)the men, the women, the children, ^(LE)the princesses, and every person whom ^(LF)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with ^(LG)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at ^(LH)Tahpanhes.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in ^(LI)Tahpanhes: ⁹“Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in ^(LJ)Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(LK)my servant, ^(LL)and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. ¹¹He shall come ^(LM)and strike the land of Egypt, ^(LN)giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. ¹²^(LO)I shall kindle a fire ^(LP)in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them ^(LQ)and carry them away captive. ^(LR)And he shall clean the land of Egypt ^(LS)as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. ¹³He shall break the ^(LT)obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, ^(LU)and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”