Jeremiah 35:5-11

New International Version

⁵ Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ 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) 7} 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.’ ⁸ 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 ⁹ 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.”