Jeremiah 40–44

CHAPTER 40

Jeremiah Stays in Judah

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after ^aNebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had released him from ^bRamah, when he had taken him bound in ^cchains among all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

²And the captain of the bodyguard had taken Jeremiah and said to him, “^aYahweh your God promised this calamity against this place;

³and Yahweh has brought it on and done just as He promised. Because you people ^asinned against Yahweh and did not listen to His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you.

⁴“So now, behold, I am ^afreeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will set my eyes to look after you; but if it ¹is displeasing in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, ²never mind. Look, the ^bwhole land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right in your eyes to go.”

⁵But as ¹Jeremiah had not yet set out to return, ²he said, “Return then to ^aGedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has ^bappointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people; or else go anywhere that is right in your eyes to go.” So the captain of the bodyguard gave him a ^cration and a ^dgift and let him go.

⁶Then Jeremiah went to ^aMizpah to ^bGedaliah the son of Ahikam and stayed with him among the people who remained in the land.

^7aThen all the ¹commanders of the military forces that were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam over the land and that he had appointed him over the men, women, little ones, and those of the ^bpoorest of the land who had not been exiled to Babylon.

⁸So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with ^aIshmael the son of Nethaniah, and ^bJohanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the ^cNetophathite, and ^dJezaniah the son of the ^eMaacathite, both they and their men.

⁹Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ^aswore to them and to their men, saying, “^bDo not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, that it may go well with you.

¹⁰“Now as for me, behold, I am going to stay at Mizpah to ^astand for you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, ^bgather in wine and ^csummer fruit and oil and put them in your storage vessels and stay in your cities that you have seized.”

¹¹And also all the Jews, who were in ^aMoab and among the sons of ^bAmmon and in ^cEdom and who were in all the other lands, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

¹²Then all the Jews ^areturned from all the places to which they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered in wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

¹³Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

¹⁴and said to him, “Do you indeed know that Baalis the king of the sons of ^aAmmon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to strike down your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “^aLet me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he ^bstrike down your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the ^cremnant of Judah would perish?”

¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “^aDo not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”

CHAPTER 41

Ishmael Strikes Down Gedaliah

^1aNow it happened in the seventh month, that ^bIshmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to ^cGedaliah the son of Ahikam. And they ^dwere eating bread together there in Mizpah.

²Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and ^astruck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and ^bput to death the one ^cwhom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

³Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

⁴Now it happened on the ¹next day after putting Gedaliah to death, when no one knew about it,

⁵that eighty men ^acame from ^bShechem, from ^cShiloh, and from ^dSamaria with ^etheir beards shaved off and their clothes torn and ¹their bodies ^fgashed, having grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring to the ^ghouse of Yahweh.

⁶Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, ^aweeping as he went; and it happened that as he encountered them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!”

⁷But it happened that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men that were with him ^aslaughtered them and cast them into the cistern.

⁸But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death; for we have ^astores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field.” So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their ¹companions.

⁹Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down ¹because of Gedaliah, it was the ^aone that King Asa had made on ^baccount of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the ^aremnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the ^bking’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, over whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and went to cross over to the sons of ^cAmmon.

Johanan Rescues the People

¹¹But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^acommanders of the military forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done.

¹²So they took all the men and went to ^afight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the ^bgreat ¹pool that is in Gibeon.

¹³Now it happened as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that 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 ^aescaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon.

¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that were with him took from Mizpah ^aall the remnant of the people whom he had returned from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the mighty men who were men of war, the women, the little ones, and the eunuchs, whom he had returned from Gibeon.

¹⁷And they went and stayed in ^1aGeruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to ^bproceed into Egypt

¹⁸because of the Chaldeans; for they were ^aafraid of them, since Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom ^bthe king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

CHAPTER 42

The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray

¹Then all the ¹commanders of the military forces, ^aJohanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^bboth small and great approached

²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our ^asupplication ¹come before you, and ^bpray for us to Yahweh your God, that is for all this remnant, because we remain but a ^cfew out of many, as your own eyes now see us,

³that Yahweh your God may tell us the ^away in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ^apray to Yahweh your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ¹message which ^bYahweh will answer you. I will ^cnot keep back a word from you.”

⁵And they said to Jeremiah, “May ^aYahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ¹message with which Yahweh your God will send you to us.

⁶“Whether it is good or bad, we will ^alisten to the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, so that good ^bmay come to us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

⁷Now it happened that at the ^aend of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

⁸Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ¹commanders of the military forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great,

⁹and said to them, “Thus ^asays Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him:

¹⁰‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^abuild you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I have ^1brelented of the calamity that I have done against you.

¹¹‘^aDo not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for ^bI am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.

¹²‘I will also show you compassion, so that ^ahe will have compassion on you and return you to your own soil.

¹³‘But if you are going to say, “We will ^anot stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of Yahweh your God,

¹⁴saying, “No, but we will ^ago to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or ^bhear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,”

¹⁵then now, listen to the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your face to enter ^aEgypt, and you will enter to sojourn there,

¹⁶then the ^asword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will ¹follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die…