Then I set before the [a]men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “(A)Drink wine!” But they said, “We will not drink wine, for (B)Jonadab the son of (C)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall (D)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed nor plant a vineyard, nor [b]own one; but you shall live in (E)tents all your days, so that you may live (F)many days [c]in the land where you (G)live as strangers.’ And we have (H)obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to live in; and we (I)do not have a vineyard, a field, or seed. 10 But we have (J)lived only in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that our father (K)Jonadab commanded us. 11 However, when (L)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let’s (M)go to Jerusalem away from the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.’ So we have lived in Jerusalem.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 35:5 Lit sons
  2. Jeremiah 35:7 Lit shall it be to you
  3. Jeremiah 35:7 Lit on the face of the

Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab[a](A) son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.(B) Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents.(C) Then you will live a long time in the land(D) where you are nomads.’ We have obeyed everything our forefather(E) Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.(F) 10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded(G) this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem(H) to escape the Babylonian[b] and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant of Jehonadab; here and often in this chapter
  2. Jeremiah 35:11 Or Chaldean