Jeremiah 35:1-11

New International Reader's Version

The Family Line of Rekab

35 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came during the time Jehoiakim was king over Judah. Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. The message said, ² “Go to the members of the family line of Rekab. Invite them to come to one of the side rooms in my house. Then give them wine to drink.”

³ So I went to get Jaazaniah. He was the son of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the son of Habazziniah. I also went to get Jaazaniah’s brothers and all his sons. That included all the members of the family line of Rekab. ⁴ I brought them into the Lord’s house. I took them into the room of the sons of Hanan. He was the son of Igdaliah. He was also a man of God. His room was next to the room of the officials. Their room was above the room of Maaseiah. He was the son of Shallum. He also was one of those who guarded the temple doors. ⁵ Then I got bowls full of wine and some cups. I set them down in front of the men from the family line of Rekab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ But they replied, “We don’t drink wine. That’s because Jehonadab gave us a command. He was the son of Rekab. He was also one of our own people from long ago. He commanded, ‘You and your children after you must never drink wine. ⁷ Also you must never build houses. You must never plant crops or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. Instead, you must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are wandering around.’ ⁸ We have done everything Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, commanded us to do. So we and our wives and our children have never drunk wine. ⁹ We have never built houses to live in. We’ve never had vineyards, fields or crops. ¹⁰ We’ve always lived in tents. We’ve completely obeyed everything Jehonadab commanded our people of long ago. ¹¹ But Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched into this land. Then we said, ‘Come. We must go to Jerusalem. There we can escape the armies of Babylon and Aram.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”