Jeremiah 39–43

Chapter 39

Jerusalem Captured

¹¹Now when Jerusalem was captured ^2ain the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it;

²in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was ^abreached.

³Then all the ^aofficials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^bMiddle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ¹Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ²Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

⁴When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^afled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^bbetween the two walls; and he went out toward the ¹Arabah.

⁵But the army of the ^aChaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^bplains of Jericho; and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^cRiblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

⁶Then the ^aking of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah ^bbefore his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew all the ^cnobles of Judah.

⁷He then ^ablinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^bfetters of bronze to bring him to ^cBabylon.

⁸The Chaldeans also ^aburned with fire the king’s palace and the houses of the people, and they ^bbroke down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the ^1adeserters who had gone over to him and ^bthe rest of the people who remained, ^cNebuzaradan the ^dcaptain of the bodyguard carried them into exile in Babylon.

¹⁰But some of the ^apoorest people who had nothing, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields ¹at that time.

Jeremiah Spared

¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about ^aJeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying,

¹²“Take him and ¹look after him, and ^ado nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.”

¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ¹Rab-saris, and Nergal-sar-ezer the ²Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon;

¹⁴they even sent and ^atook Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to ^bGedaliah, the son of ^cAhikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

¹⁵Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was ^aconfined in the court of the guardhouse, saying,

¹⁶“Go and speak to ^aEbed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city ^bfor disaster and not for ¹prosperity; and they will ^ctake place before you on that day.

¹⁷“But I will ^adeliver you on that day,” declares the Lord, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread.

¹⁸“For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own ^alife as booty, because you have ^btrusted in Me,” declares the Lord.’ ”

Chapter 40

Jeremiah Remains in Judah

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord 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.

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

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

⁴“But now, behold, I am ^afreeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If ¹you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will ²look after you; but if ³you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, ⁴never mind. Look, the ^bwhole land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right for you to go.”

⁵As ¹Jeremiah was still not going back, ²he said, “Go on back 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 it seems right for you 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 were left in the land.

^7aNow all the ¹commanders of the 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 put him in charge of the men, women and ²children, 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 live in your cities that you have taken over.”

¹¹Likewise, also all the Jews who were in ^aMoab and among the sons of ^bAmmon and in ^cEdom and who were in all the other countries, 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 driven away 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 forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

¹⁴and said to him, “Are you well aware that Baalis the king of the sons of ^aAmmon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take 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 kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he ^btake 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

Gedaliah Is Murdered

^1aIn the seventh month ^bIshmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal ¹family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to ^cGedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they ^dwere eating bread together there in Mizpah,

²Ishmael 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, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

⁴Now it happened on the ¹next day after the killing of Gedaliah, 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 incense in their hands to bring to the ^ghouse of the Lord.

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

⁷Yet it turned out 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 companions.

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 were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put under the charge of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of ^cAmmon.

Johanan Rescues the People

¹¹But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^acommanders of the 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 as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and the commanders of the forces that were with him, they were glad.

¹⁴So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, 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 forces that were with him took from Mizpah ^aall the remnant of the people whom he had ¹recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the men who were ²soldiers, the women, the ³children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.

¹⁷And they went and stayed in ^1aGeruth Chimham,…