Jeremiah 41
New American Standard Bible
Gedaliah Is Murdered
41 (A)Now in the seventh month (B)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal [a]family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to (C)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they (D)were eating bread together there in Mizpah, 2 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him rose up, and (E)struck and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and (F)put to death the one (G)whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. 3 Ishmael also struck and killed all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
4 Now it happened on the [b]next day after the killing of Gedaliah, when no one knew about it, 5 that eighty men (H)came from (I)Shechem, from (J)Shiloh, and from (K)Samaria with (L)their beards shaved off, their clothes torn, and [c]their bodies (M)gashed, having grain offerings and incense in their hands to bring to the (N)house of the Lord. 6 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah left Mizpah to meet them, (O)weeping as he went; and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” 7 Yet it turned out that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him (P)slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern. 8 But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have (Q)supplies of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field.” So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their companions.
9 Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck and killed [d]because of Gedaliah, it was the (R)one that King Asa had constructed on (S)account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the (T)remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the (U)king’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put in the custody of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of (V)Ammon.
Johanan Rescues the People
11 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the (W)commanders of the forces that were with him heard about all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. 12 So they took all the men and went to (X)fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and they found him by the (Y)large [e]pool that is in Gibeon. 13 Now as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, they were joyful. 14 So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah (Z)escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the sons of Ammon. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah (AA)all the remnant of the people whom he had [f]recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the men who were [g]soldiers, the women, the [h]children, and the high officials, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. 17 And they went and stayed in [i](AB)Geruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to (AC)proceed into Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were (AD)afraid of them, since Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom (AE)the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 41:1 Lit seed
- Jeremiah 41:4 Or second
- Jeremiah 41:5 Lit having cut themselves
- Jeremiah 41:9 Lit by the hand of
- Jeremiah 41:12 Lit waters
- Jeremiah 41:16 Lit brought back
- Jeremiah 41:16 Lit men of war
- Jeremiah 41:16 Lit infants
- Jeremiah 41:17 Or the lodging place of Chimham
Jeremiah 41
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Gedaliah Assassinated by Ishmael
41 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with 10 men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate a meal together there in Mizpah, 2 but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the 10 men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land. 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.(A)
4 On the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when no one knew yet, 5 80 men came from Shechem, Shiloh,(B) and Samaria(C) who had shaved their beards,(D) torn their garments, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the Lord.(E) 6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said: “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!” 7 But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into[a] a cistern.
8 However, there were 10 men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions. 9 Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one[b] that King Asa had made in the encounter with Baasha king of Israel.(F) Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
10 Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people of Mizpah including the daughters of the king—all those who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.(G)
The Captives Rescued by Johanan
11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies(H) with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done, 12 they took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah and found him by the great pool in Gibeon.(I) 13 When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced, 14 and all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and rejoined Johanan son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites. 16 Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him then took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam—men, soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom he brought back from Gibeon. 17 They left, stopping in Geruth Chimham,(J) which is near Bethlehem, in order to make their way into Egypt, 18 away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.(K)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 41:7 Syr; MT reads slaughtered them in
- Jeremiah 41:9 LXX; MT reads down by the hand of Gedaliah
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