Ishmael Murders Gedaliah and Carries the Judeans at Mizpah off as Captives

40:13 Johanan and all the officers of the troops that had been hiding in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 40:14 They said to him, “Are you at all aware26 that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them. 40:15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah there at Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah before anyone knows about it. Otherwise he will kill you27 and all the Judeans who have rallied around you will be scattered. Then what remains of Judah will disappear.” 40:16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do that28 because what you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”29

41:1 But in the seventh month1 Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama who was a member of the royal family and had been one of Zedekiah’s chief officers, came with ten of his men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating a meal together with him there at Mizpah, 41:2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him stood up, pulled out their swords, and killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. Thus Ishmael killed the man that the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country. 41:3 Ishmael also killed all the Judeans2 who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Babylonian3 soldiers who happened to be there.4

41:4 On the day after Gedaliah had been murdered, before anyone even knew about it, 41:5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria.5 They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning.6 They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.7 41:6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them. He was pretending to cry8 as he walked along. When he met them, he said to them, “Come with me to meet Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”9 41:7 But as soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies10 in a cistern. 41:8 But there were ten men among them who said11 to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. For we will give you the stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey we have hidden in a field.12 So he spared their lives and did not kill13 them along with the rest.14 41:9 Now the cistern where Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of those he had killed was a large one15 that King Asa had constructed as part of his defenses against King Baasha of Israel.16 Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with dead bodies.17 41:10 Then Ishmael took captive all the people who were still left alive in Mizpah. This included the royal princesses18 and all the rest of the people in Mizpah that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had put under the authority of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took all these people captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.