40The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard,^a had let him go from Ramah, where he had been taken^b bound in chains in the midst of all the exiles^c of Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported to Babylon. ²And the captain of the guard^d took Jeremiah and said to him, “Yahweh your God threatened this disaster to this place, ³and now he has brought it about,^e and Yahweh has done just as^f he threatened. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to his voice, so this thing has happened to you. ⁴And so then look, I have released you today^g from the chains that were on your hands.^h If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you.ⁱ But if it is bad in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, then refrain. Look, the whole land is before you.^j To wherever it is good and right in your eyes to go, then go there.” ⁵While he still had not turned back, Nebuzaradan added, “Return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed in an official position over the towns of Judah, and stay with him in the midst of the people. Or to wherever it is right in your eyes to go, then go there.”^k Then the captain of the guard^l gave him an allowance of provisions and a present, and let him go. ⁶So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and stayed with him in the midst of the people who were left in the land.

The Assassination of Gedaliah

⁷When all the commanders of the armies who were in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam in an official position in the land, and that he had put him in charge of^m men, and women, and little children, and of the poor of the land, of all those who had not been deported to Babylon, ⁸then they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, and Jehonathan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ⁹And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying,ⁿ “You must not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ¹⁰As for me,^o look, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before^p the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your towns that you have seized.” ¹¹And also all the Judeans who were in Moab, and among the Ammonites,^q and in Edom, and who were in all the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, in an official position over them, ¹²then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they were scattered. And they came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit that yielded in great abundance.^r

¹³And Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴and said to him, “Are you at all aware^s that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites,^t has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, to kill you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secrecy at Mizpah, saying,^u “Please let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and nobody^v will know. Why should he kill you, so that all of Judah who are gathered to you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish?” ¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You must not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”

41And then^a in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah, along with^b ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah. ²And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, along with^c the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land. ³Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with^d the Chaldeans who were found there, the soldiers.^e

The Massacre of the Mourners

⁴And then^f on the second day of the killing of Gedaliah—and no one^g knew— ⁵then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with shaven beards^h and torn garments, who had cut themselves with blades, havingⁱ grain offerings^j and frankincense in their hands^k to bring to the temple^l of Yahweh. ⁶And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, weeping as he came.^m And thenⁿ as he was meeting them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.” ⁷And then,^o the moment of their coming to the middle of the city, then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, along with^p the men who were with him, slaughtered^q them and threw them to the middle of the pit.^r ⁸But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, “You must not kill us, for we have^s hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen. ⁹Now the pit^t into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had killed along with^u Gedaliah was the same one that King Asa had made because of Baasha the king of Israel, who was against him. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain ones.

¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, over whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard,^v had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.^w

¹¹When Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, heard^x all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²then they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. And they met him at the great pool that is in Gibeon. ¹³And then,^y the moment that all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men from^z Johanan, and they went to the Ammonites.^a

¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, strong men, soldiers,^b and women, and little children, and eunuchs whom he brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷And they set out and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham that is near Bethlehem, intending^c to go to Egypt ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them,^d because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.

The Remnant Asks Jeremiah to Pray to Yahweh for Direction

42Then all the commanders of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, approached ²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “May our plea please fall before you,^a and pray for us to Yahweh your God, for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes are seeing us. ³And let Yahweh your God inform us the way in which we should go and the thing that we should do.” ⁴And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Look, I am going to pray to Yahweh your God according to your words, and then^b all the words^c that Yahweh answers you I will tell you; I will not withhold from you a word.” ⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be against us as a true and faithful witness^d if we do not do according to all the words^e that Yahweh your God sends you for us. ⁶Whether good or bad, we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

The Remnant Rejects the Word of Yahweh

⁷And then^f at the end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. ⁸And he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, ⁹and said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cause your plea to fall before him:^g ¹⁰‘If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear you down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck you up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you. ¹¹You must not be afraid of^h the king of Babylon whom you are afraid of.ⁱ You must not be afraid of him,’ declares^j Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your soil.

¹³But if you are saying, “We will not stay in this land,” so as to not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, ¹⁴saying, “No, for we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear the sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,” ¹⁵then therefore^k hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “If you are determined^l to go to Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there, ¹⁶then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Jeremiah 40–44 in Logos

Footnotes

aHebrew “guards”
bLiterally “at his taking him
cHebrew “exile”
dHebrew “guards”
eHere the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
fLiterally “as that”
gLiterally “the day”
hHebrew “hand”
iLiterally “I will place my eye on you”
jLiterally “to the face of you”
kHere the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
lHebrew “guards”
mLiterally “he had appointed to him”
nLiterally “to say”
oLiterally “And I”
pLiterally “to the face of”
qLiterally “sons of Ammon”
rLiterally “very numerous”
sLiterally “know you know”
tLiterally “sons of Ammon”
uLiterally “to say”
vLiterally “not a man”
aLiterally “And it was”
bLiterally “and”
cLiterally “and”
dLiterally “and”
eLiterally “the men of the war”
fLiterally “And it was”
gLiterally “not a man”
hHebrew “beard”
iLiterally “and”
jHebrew “grain offering”
kHebrew “hand”
lLiterally “house”
mLiterally “coming he came and weeping”
nLiterally “And it was”
oLiterally “And it was”
pLiterally “and”
qThe Hebrew verb is singular
rOr “cistern”
sLiterally “there is to us”
tOr “cistern”
uLiterally “by the hand of”
vHebrew “guards”
wLiterally “sons of Ammon”
xThe Hebrew verb is singular
yLiterally “And it was”
zLiterally “from the face of”
aLiterally “sons of Ammon”
bLiterally “the men of the war”
cLiterally “going”
dLiterally “from the face of them”
aLiterally “to the face of you”
bLiterally “and it will happen”
cHebrew “word”
dLiterally “a witness of truth and faithfulness”
eHebrew “word”
fLiterally “And it was”
gLiterally “to the face of him”
hLiterally “from the face of”
iLiterally “in fear from the presence of him”
jLiterally “a declaration of”
kLiterally “to thus”
lLiterally “If you indeed set your face”