^2 (A)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, ^(B)whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. ³ Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at ^(C)Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

⁴ On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, ⁵ eighty men arrived from ^(D)Shechem and ^(E)Shiloh and ^(F)Samaria, with ^(G)their beards shaved and ^(H)their clothes torn, and ^(I)their bodies gashed, ^(J)bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. ⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from ^(K)Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” ⁷ When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. ⁸ But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have ^(L)stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.

⁹ Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with^[a] Gedaliah was the large cistern that ^(M)King Asa had made for defense against ^(N)Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^(O)the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom ^(P)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to ^(Q)the Ammonites.