Gedaliah Assassinated^(A)

⁷ When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor^(B) over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest^(C) in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon,

¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

¹⁶ All the people of the land will be required to give this special offering to the prince in Israel.

²⁴ “Son of man, the people living in those ruins^(A) in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many;^(B) surely the land has been given to us as our possession.’^{(C) 25} Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you eat^(D) meat with the blood^(E) still in it and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land?^{(F) 26} You rely on your sword, you do detestable things,^(G) and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife.^(H) Should you then possess the land?’

²⁷ “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague.^{(I) 28} I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains^(J) of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them.^{(K) 29} Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate^(L) waste because of all the detestable things they have done.’^(M)

⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls,^(A) and headed toward the Arabah.^[a](B)

²² Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah^(A) son of Ahikam,^(B) the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. ²³ When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”

²⁵ In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated^(C) Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.^{(D) 26} At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt^(E) for fear of the Babylonians.

⁴ Then the city wall was broken through,^(A) and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians^[a] were surrounding^(B) the city. They fled toward the Arabah,^[b]