¹⁶ But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”

⁸ And why not say, ^(A)“Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their ^[a]condemnation is just.

Persecutions Are Coming^(A)

^16 (B)“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. ^(C)Therefore be wise as serpents and ^(D)harmless^[a] as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for ^(E)they will deliver you up to councils and ^(F)scourge you in their synagogues.

² Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and ^(A)struck Gedaliah the son of ^(B)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made ^(C)governor over the land.