Jeremiah 40–44

Jeremiah Is Set Free

40The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, commander of the guards, had set Jeremiah free at the city of Ramah. He had found Jeremiah in Ramah bound in chains with all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken away to Babylon. ²When commander Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan said to him, “The Lord your God announced this disaster would come to this place. ³And now the Lord has done everything he said he would do. This disaster happened because the people of Judah sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. ⁴But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. If you want to, come with me to Babylon, and I will take good care of you. But if you don’t want to come, then don’t. Look, the whole country is open to you. Go wherever you wish.” ⁵Before Jeremiah turned to leave, Nebuzaradan said, “Or go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. The king of Babylon has chosen him to be governor over the towns of Judah. Go and live with Gedaliah among the people, or go anywhere you want.”

Then Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. ⁶So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him there. He lived among the people who were left behind in Judah.

The Short Rule of Gedaliah

⁷Some officers and their men from the army of Judah were still out in the open country. They heard that the king of Babylon had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge of the people who were left in the land: the men, women, and children who were the poorest. They were the ones who were not taken to Babylon as captives. ⁸So these soldiers came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, and their men.

⁹Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, made a promise to them, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon. Then everything will go well for you. ¹⁰I myself will live in Mizpah and will speak for you before the Babylonians who come to us here. Harvest the wine, the summer fruit, and the oil, and put what you harvest in your storage jars. Live in the towns you control.”

¹¹The Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries also heard that the king of Babylon had left a few Jews alive in the land. And they heard the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah as governor over them. (Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.) ¹²When the people of Judah heard this news, they came back to Judah from all the countries where they had been scattered. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and gathered a large harvest of wine and summer fruit.

¹³Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers of Judah still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. ¹⁴They said to him, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonite people wants you dead? He has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you.” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah. He said, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know anything about it. We should not let Ishmael kill you. Then all the Jews gathered around you would be scattered to different countries again, and the few people of Judah who are left alive would be lost.”

¹⁶But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not kill Ishmael! The things you are saying about Ishmael are not true.”

41In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah and ten of his men came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. (Nethaniah was the son of Elishama.) Now Ishmael was a member of the king’s family and had been one of the officers of the king of Judah. While they were eating a meal with Gedaliah at Mizpah, ²Ishmael and his ten men got up and killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with a sword. (Gedaliah was the man the king of Babylon had chosen as governor over Judah.) ³Ishmael also killed all the Jews and the Babylonian soldiers who were there with Gedaliah at Mizpah.

⁴The day after Gedaliah was murdered, before anyone knew about it, ⁵eighty men came to Mizpah bringing grain offerings and incense to the Temple of the Lord. Those men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves. ^{n 6}Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, crying as he walked. When he met them, he said, “Come with me to meet Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ⁷So they went into Mizpah. Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and his men killed seventy of them and threw the bodies into a deep well. ⁸But the ten men who were left alive said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley and oil and honey that we have hidden in a field.” So Ishmael let them live and did not kill them with the others. ⁹Now the well where he had thrown all the bodies had been made by King Asa as a part of his defenses against Baasha king of Israel. But Ishmael son of Nethaniah put dead bodies in it until it was full.

¹⁰Ishmael captured all the other people in Mizpah: the king’s daughters and all the other people who were left there. They were the ones whom Nebuzaradan commander of the guard had chosen Gedaliah son of Ahikam to take care of. So Ishmael son of Nethaniah captured those people, and he started to cross over to the country of the Ammonites.

¹¹Johanan son of Kareah and all his army officers with him heard about all the evil things Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done. ¹²So they took their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah and caught him near the big pool of water at Gibeon. ¹³When the captives Ishmael had taken saw Johanan and the army officers, they were glad. ¹⁴So all the people Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and ran to Johanan son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and ran away to the Ammonites.

¹⁶So Johanan son of Kareah and all his army officers saved the captives that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had taken from Mizpah after he murdered Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Among those left alive were soldiers, women, children, and palace officers. And Johanan brought them back from the town of Gibeon.

The Escape to Egypt

^17–18Johanan and the other army officers were afraid of the Babylonians. Since the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah son of Ahikam to be governor of Judah but Ishmael son of Nethaniah had murdered him, Johanan was afraid that the Babylonians would be angry. So they decided to run away to Egypt. On the way they stayed at Geruth Kimham, near the town of Bethlehem.

42While there, Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah went to Jeremiah the prophet. All the army officers and all the people, from the least important to the greatest, went along, too. ²They said to him, “Jeremiah, please listen to what we ask. Pray to the Lord your God for all the people left alive from the family of Judah. At one time there were many of us, but you can see that there are few of us now. ³So pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet answered, “I understand what you want me to do. I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything he says and not hide anything from you.”

⁵Then the people said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and loyal witness against us if we don’t do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. ⁶It does not matter if we like the message or not. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you. We will obey what he says so good things will happen to us.”

⁷Ten days later the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. ⁸Then Jeremiah called for Johanan son of Kareah, the army officers with him, and all the other people, from the least important to the greatest. ⁹Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to ask the Lord for what you wanted. This is what the God of Israel says: ¹⁰‘If you will stay in Judah, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up, because I am sad about the disaster I brought on you. ¹¹Now you fear the king of Babylon, but don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power. ¹²I will be kind to you, and he will also treat you with mercy and let you stay in your land.’

¹³“But if you say, ‘We will not stay in Judah,’ you will disobey the Lord your God. ¹⁴Or you might say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt. There we will not see war, or hear the trumpets of war, or be hungry.’ ¹⁵If you say that, listen to the message of the Lord, you who are left alive from Judah. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you make up your mind to go and live in Egypt, these things will happen: ¹⁶You are afraid of war, but it will find you in the land of Egypt. And you are worried about hunger, but it will follow you into Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷Everyone who goes to live in Egypt will die in war or from hunger or terrible disease. No one who goes to Egypt will live; no one will escape the terrible things I will bring to them.’

¹⁸“This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I showed my anger against the people of Jerusalem. In the same way I will show my anger against you when you go to Egypt. Other nations will speak evil of you. People will be shocked by what will happen to you. You will become a curse word, and people will insult you. And you will never see Judah again.’

¹⁹“You who are left alive in Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ Be sure you understand this; I warn you today ²⁰that you are making a mistake that will cause your deaths. You sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.’ ²¹So today I have told you, but you have not obeyed the…