Jeremiah 41

Revised Geneva Translation

41 But in the seventh month came Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and the princes of the king, and ten men with him, to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah. And they ate bread together there, in Mizpah.

² Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, arose with these ten men who were with him and struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babel had made governor over the land.

³ Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and all the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

⁴ Now, the second day after he had killed Gedaliah (though no one knew it),

⁵ 80 men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes ripped and cut, with offerings and incense in their hands, to offer in the House of the LORD.

⁶ And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. And when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.”

⁷ And when they came into the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and the men who were with him.

⁸ But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. For we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey.” So he refrained, and did not kill them along with their brethren.

⁹ Now the pit in which Ishmael had cast the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed because of Gedaliah is the same one which Asa the king had made because of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled it with those who were killed.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, had committed to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites.

¹¹ But when Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done,

¹² then they all took men and went to fight with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.

¹³ Now, when all the people whom Ishmael carried away captive saw Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, they were glad.

¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ But Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶ Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, took the whole remnant of the people whom Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had carried away captive from Mizpah (after he had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam), the strong men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs whom he had brought back from Gibeon.

¹⁷ And they departed and dwelt in Geruth, Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, on the way to Egypt,

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babel made governor in the land.