also slew the Babylonian garrison and innocent people who were present. The news of this dastardly act reached Johanan ben Kareah, who was absent from Mizpah at the time, and he pursued Ishmael with a band of armed men. Ishmael escaped to Ammon. Gedaliah’s friends in Mizpah, fearing repercussions from Nebuchadrezzar, determined to flee to Egypt, taking with them an unwilling Jeremiah (ch. 42). Whether because of this senseless massacre or for some other reason there was a third deportation in 582
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