Jeremiah 39–43

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM TO BABYLON

39In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.^{l 2}In the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into.^{m 3}All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar, Nebusarsechim^I the chief of staff, Nergal-sharezer the chief soothsayer, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon’s king.^a

⁴When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the fighting men saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden^b through the city gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah.^{c 5}However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him there.^d

⁶At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all Judah’s nobles. ⁷Then he blinded Zedekiah and put him in bronze chains to take him to Babylon.^{e 8}The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.^{f 9}Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards,^g deported the rest of the people to Babylon—those who had remained in the city and those deserters who had defected to him along with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰However, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.^h

JEREMIAH FREED BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR

¹¹Speaking through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah: ¹²“Take him and look after him. Don’t do him any harm, but do for him whatever he says.” ¹³Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, Nebushazban the chief of staff, Nergal-sharezer the chief soothsayer, and all the captains of Babylon’s king ¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the guard’s courtyardⁱ and turned him over to Gedaliah^j son of Ahikam,^k son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he settled among his own people.

¹⁵Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah when he was confined in the guard’s courtyard:^{l 16}“Go tell Ebed-melech the Cushite,^m ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words for disaster and not for good against this city. They will take place before your eyes on that day. ¹⁷But I will rescue you on that day—this is the Lord’s declaration—and you will not be handed over to the men you dread. ¹⁸Indeed, I will certainly deliver you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in me, you will retain your life like the spoils of war.ⁿ This is the Lord’s declaration.’ ”

JEREMIAH STAYS IN JUDAH

40This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, released him at Ramah.^o When he found him, he was bound in chains with all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. ²The captain of the guards took Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord your God decreed this disaster on this place,^{p 3}and the Lord has fulfilled it. He has done just what he decreed. Because you people have sinned against the Lord^q and have not obeyed him, this thing has happened. ⁴Now pay attention: Today I am setting you free from the chains that were on your hands.^r If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther.^A Look—the whole land is in front of you.^s Wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there.” ⁵When Jeremiah had not yet turned to go, Nebuzaradan said to him,^B “Return^C to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people or go wherever it seems right for you to go.” So the captain of the guards gave him a ration^t and a gift^u and released him. ⁶Jeremiah therefore went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah,^v and he stayed with him among the people who remained in the land.

GEDALIAH ADVISES PEACE

⁷All the commanders of the armies that were in the countryside—they and their men—heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land. He had been put in charge of the men, women, and children from among the poorest of the land, who had not been deported to Babylon. ⁸So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The commanders included Ishmael^w son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite—they and their men.

⁹Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.^{a 10}As for me, I am going to live in Mizpah to represent you^A before the Chaldeans^b who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have captured.”

¹¹When all the Judeans in Moab^c and among the Ammonites and in^d Edom and in all the other lands^e also heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them, ¹²they all returned from all the places where they had been banished^f and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and harvested a great amount of wine and summer fruit.

¹³Meanwhile, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies in the countryside came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴and warned him, “Don’t you realize that Baalis, king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah^h to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan son of Kareah suggested to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah, “Let me go kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know it. Why should he kill you and allow all of Judah that has gathered around you to scatter and the remnant of Judah to perish?”ⁱ

¹⁶But Gedaliah son of Ahikam responded to Johanan son of Kareah, “Don’t do that! What you’re saying about Ishmael is a lie.”

GEDALIAH ASSASSINATED BY ISHMAEL

41In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate a meal together there in Mizpah, ²but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.^{j 3}Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.^k

⁴On the day after he had killed Gedaliah, when no one knew yet, ⁵eighty men came from Shechem, Shiloh,^l and Samaria^m who had shaved their beards,ⁿ torn their clothes, and gashed themselves, and^o who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the Lord.^{p 6}Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!” ⁷But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into^A a cistern.

⁸However, there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions. ⁹Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one^B that King Asa had made in the encounter with King Baasha of Israel.^q Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people of Mizpah including the daughters of the king—all those who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.^r

THE CAPTIVES RESCUED BY JOHANAN

¹¹When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies^s with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²they took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him by the great pool in Gibeon.^{t 13}When all the people held by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced. ¹⁴All the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and rejoined Johanan son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites. ¹⁶Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him then took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam—men, soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom he brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷They left, stopping in Geruth Chimham,^a which is near Bethlehem, in order to make their way into Egypt, ¹⁸away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.^b

THE PEOPLE SEEK JEREMIAH’S COUNSEL

42Then all the commanders of the armies, along with Johanan son of Kareah,^c Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest,^d approached ²the prophet Jeremiah and said, “May our petition come before you;^e pray to the Lord your God on our behalf,^f on behalf of this entire remnant (for few of us remain out of the many,^g as you can see with your own eyes), ³that the Lord your God may tell us the way we should go and the thing we should do.”

⁴So the…