Jeremiah 41:1–10

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.