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The Rechabites Listen to Jonadab

35 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of (A)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, “Go to the house of the (B)Rechabites and speak to them and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the (C)chambers, and give them wine to drink.” Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites, and I brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the (D)man of God, which was beside the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, (E)the doorkeeper. Then I put before the [a]men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “(F)Drink wine!” But they said, “We will not drink wine, for (G)Jonadab the son of (H)Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall (I)not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but (J)tents you shall inhabit all your days, that you may live (K)many days in the land where you (L)sojourn.’ So we have (M)listened to the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to inhabit; and we (N)do not have vineyard or field or seed. 10 We have only (O)inhabited tents and have listened and have done according to all that (P)Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But it happened that when (Q)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us (R)come to Jerusalem before the military force of the Chaldeans and before the military force of the Arameans.’ So we have inhabited Jerusalem.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 35:5 Lit sons

The Rechabites Commended

35 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:(A) Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them to the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink.(B) So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites. I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold.(C) Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups, and I said to them, “Have some wine.”(D) But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us, ‘You shall never drink wine, neither you nor your children,(E) nor shall you ever build a house or sow seed, nor shall you plant a vineyard or even own one, but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you reside.’(F) We have obeyed the charge of our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,(G) and not to build houses to live in. We have no vineyard or field or seed, 10 but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. 11 But when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans.’ That is why we are living in Jerusalem.”(H)

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