The Rechabites Commended

35 ^[a]The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoi′akim the son of Josi′ah, king of Judah: ² “Go to the house of the Rech′abites, and speak with them, and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.” ³ So I took Ja-azani′ah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazzini′ah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rech′abites. ⁴ I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdali′ah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Ma-asei′ah the son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold. ⁵ Then I set before the Rech′abites pitchers full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine.” ⁶ But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jon′adab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons for ever; ⁷ you shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ ⁸ We have obeyed the voice of Jon′adab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed; ¹⁰ but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed and done all that Jon′adab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But when Nebuchadrez′zar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chalde′ans and the army of the Syrians.’ So we are living in Jerusalem.”