Jeremiah 35

CHAPTER 35

The Rechabites Listen to Jonadab

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of ^aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

²“Go to the house of the ^aRechabites and speak to them and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the ^bchambers, and give them wine to drink.”

³Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites,

⁴and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the ^aman of God, which was beside the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, ^bthe doorkeeper.

⁵Then I put before the ¹men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “^aDrink wine!”

⁶But they said, “We will not drink wine, for ^aJonadab the son of ^bRechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall ^cnot drink wine, you or your sons, forever.

⁷‘And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but ^atents you shall inhabit all your days, that you may live ^bmany days in the land where you ^csojourn.’

⁸“So we have ^alistened to the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,

⁹nor to build ourselves houses to inhabit; and we ^ado not have vineyard or field or seed.

¹⁰“We have only ^ainhabited tents and have listened and have done according to all that ^bJonadab our father commanded us.

¹¹“But it happened that when ^aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us ^bcome to Jerusalem before the military force of the Chaldeans and before the military force of the Arameans.’ So we have inhabited Jerusalem.”

Yahweh Warns of Judah’s Discipline

¹²Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

¹³“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “^aWill you not receive discipline by listening to My words?” declares Yahweh.

¹⁴“The ^awords of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are established. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have listened to their father’s command. But I have spoken to you, ^brising up early and speaking; yet you have ^cnot listened to Me.

¹⁵“Also I have sent to you all My ^aslaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, saying: ‘^bTurn now every man from his evil way and make good your deeds, and ^cdo not walk after other gods to ¹serve them. Then you will ^dinhabit the land which I have given to you and to your fathers; but you have not ^einclined your ear or listened to Me.

¹⁶‘Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have ^aestablished the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’

¹⁷“Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^aI am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the harmful evil that I have spoken against them because I ^bspoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have ^alistened to the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands, and done according to all that he commanded you,

¹⁹therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab ^ashall not have a man cut off from ^bstanding before Me ¹always.” ’ ”