Jeremiah 40–44

Jeremiah with Gedaliah the Governor

40The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^aafter Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon.

²And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and ^bsaid to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. ³Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said. ^cBecause you people have sinned against the Lord, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴And now look, I free you this day from the chains that ¹were on your hand. ^dIf it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, ^eall the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”

⁵Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, “Go back to ^fGedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ^gwhom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. ^6hThen Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to ⁱMizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.

^7jAnd when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and ^kthe poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, ⁸then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—^lIshmael the son of Nethaniah, ^mJohanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and ⁿJezaniah ²the son of a ^oMaachathite, they and their men. ⁹And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be ^pwell with you. ¹⁰As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ¹²then all the Jews ^qreturned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.

¹³Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, ¹⁴and said to him, ³“Do you certainly know that ^rBaalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the ^sremnant in Judah perish?”

¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”

Insurrection Against Gedaliah

41Now it came to pass in the seventh month ^athat Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal ¹family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^bMizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah. ²Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and ^cstruck Gedaliah the son of ^dAhikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made ^egovernor 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.

⁴And it happened, on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it, ⁵that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men ^fwith their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to ^gthe house of the Lord. ⁶Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷So it was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah ^hkilled them and cast them into the midst of a ²pit, he and the men who were with him. ⁸But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.” So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. ⁹Now the ³pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, because of Gedaliah, was ⁱthe same one Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰Then Ishmael carried away captive all the ^jrest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^kthe king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, ^lwhom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to ^mthe Ammonites.

¹¹But when ⁿJohanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah; and they found him by ^othe great pool that is in Gibeon. ¹³So it was, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, that they were glad. ¹⁴Then all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, took from Mizpah all the ^prest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—the mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of ^qChimham, which is near Bethlehem, as they went on their way to ^rEgypt, ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, ^swhom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.

The Flight to Egypt Forbidden

42Now all the captains of the forces, ^aJohanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near ²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, ^b“Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and ^cpray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but ^da few of many, as you can see), ³that the Lord your God may show us ^ethe way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.”

⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be, that ^fwhatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will ^gkeep nothing back from you.”

⁵So they said to Jeremiah, ^h“Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God sends us by you. ⁶Whether it is ¹pleasing or ²displeasing, we will ⁱobey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, ^jthat it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

⁷And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. ⁸Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, ⁹and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: ¹⁰‘If you will still remain in this land, then ^kI will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I ^lrelent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. ¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ^m‘for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand. ¹²And ⁿI will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’

¹³“But if ^oyou say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, ¹⁴saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land of ^pEgypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—¹⁵Then hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you ^qwholly ³set ^ryour faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, ¹⁶then it shall be that the ^ssword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. ¹⁷So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And ^tnone of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’

¹⁸“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been ^upoured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury…