Jeremiah Remains in Judah

40 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord after (A)Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had released him from (B)Ramah, when he had taken him bound in (C)chains among all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. Now the captain of the bodyguard had taken Jeremiah and said to him, “The (D)Lord your God promised this calamity against this place; and the Lord has brought it on and done just as He promised. Because you people (E)sinned against the Lord and did not listen to His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you. But now, behold, I am (F)freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If [a]you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will [b]look after you; but if [c]you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, [d]never mind. Look, the (G)whole land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right for you to go.” As [e]Jeremiah was still not going back, [f]he said, “Go on back then to (H)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has (I)appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people; or else go anywhere it seems right for you to go.” So the captain of the bodyguard gave him a (J)ration and a (K)gift and let him go. Then Jeremiah went to (L)Mizpah to (M)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.

(N)Now all the [g]commanders of the forces that were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women and [h]children, those of the (O)poorest of the land who had not been exiled to Babylon. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with (P)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and (Q)Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the (R)Netophathite, and (S)Jezaniah the son of the (T)Maacathite, both they and their men. Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, (U)swore to them and to their men, saying, “(V)Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, that it may go well with you. 10 Now as for me, behold, I am going to stay at Mizpah to (W)stand for you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, (X)gather in wine and (Y)summer fruit and oil and put them in your storage vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken over.” 11 Likewise, also all the Jews who were in (Z)Moab and among the sons of (AA)Ammon and in (AB)Edom and who were in all the other countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah, and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. 12 Then all the Jews (AC)returned from all the places to which they had been driven away and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered in wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

13 Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Are you well aware that Baalis the king of the sons of (AD)Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. 15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “(AE)Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he (AF)take your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the (AG)remnant of Judah would perish?” 16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “(AH)Do not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”

Gedaliah Is Murdered

41 (AI)In the seventh month (AJ)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal [i]family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to (AK)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they (AL)were eating bread together there in Mizpah, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and (AM)struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and (AN)put to death the one (AO)whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

Now it happened on the [j]next day after the killing of Gedaliah, when no one knew about it, that eighty men (AP)came from (AQ)Shechem, from (AR)Shiloh, and from (AS)Samaria with (AT)their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and [k]their bodies (AU)gashed, having grain offerings and incense in their hands to bring to the (AV)house of the Lord. Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, (AW)weeping as he went; and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” Yet it turned out that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men that were with him (AX)slaughtered them and cast them into the cistern. But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death; for we have (AY)stores of wheat, barley, oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their companions.

Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down [l]because of Gedaliah, it was the (AZ)one that King Asa had made on (BA)account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the (BB)remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the (BC)king’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put under the charge of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of (BD)Ammon.

Johanan Rescues the People

11 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the (BE)commanders of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. 12 So they took all the men and went to (BF)fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and they found him by the (BG)great [m]pool that is in Gibeon. 13 Now as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and the commanders of the forces that were with him, they were glad. 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 (BH)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 (BI)all the remnant of the people whom he had [n]recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the men who were [o]soldiers, the women, the [p]children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. 17 And they went and stayed in [q](BJ)Geruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to (BK)proceed into Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were (BL)afraid of them, since Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom (BM)the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

Warning against Going to Egypt

42 Then all the [r]commanders of the forces, (BN)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people (BO)both small and great approached and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our (BP)petition [s]come before you, and (BQ)pray for us to the Lord your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a (BR)few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, that the Lord your God may tell us the (BS)way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to (BT)pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole [t]message which the (BU)Lord will answer you. I will (BV)not keep back a word from you.” Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the (BW)Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole [u]message with which the Lord your God will send you to us. Whether it is [v]pleasant or [w]unpleasant, we will (BX)listen to the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go (BY)well with us when we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”

Now at the (BZ)end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the [x]commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, and said to them, “Thus (CA)says the Lord the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: 10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will (CB)build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I [y]will (CC)relent concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you. 11 (CD)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for (CE)I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. 12 I will also show you compassion, so that (CF)he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. 13 But if you are going to say, “We will (CG)not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, “No, but we will (CH)go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or (CI)hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there”; 15 then [z]in that case listen to the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your [aa]mind to enter (CJ)Egypt and go in to reside there, 16 then the (CK)sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17 So all the men who set their [ab]mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the (CL)sword, by famine and by pestilence; and they will (CM)have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

18 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My (CN)anger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a (CO)curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach; and (CP)you will see this place no more.” 19 The Lord has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not (CQ)go into Egypt!” You should clearly (CR)understand that today I have (CS)testified against you. 20 For you have only [ac](CT)deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” 21 So I have (CU)told you today, but you have (CV)not [ad]obeyed the Lord your God, even in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22 Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will (CW)die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, in the (CX)place where you wish to go to reside.

In Egypt Jeremiah Warns of Judgment

43 But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent, had (CY)finished telling all the people all the words of the Lord their God—that is, all these words— Azariah the (CZ)son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are (DA)telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; but (DB)Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.” So (DC)Johanan the son of Kareah and all the [ae]commanders of the forces, and all the people, (DD)did not obey the voice of the Lord to (DE)stay in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the [af]commanders of the forces took the (DF)entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven away, in order to reside in the land of Judah— the men, the women, the [ag]children, the (DG)king’s daughters and (DH)every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [ah]and grandson of Shaphan, together with (DI)Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah— and they entered the land of Egypt (for they did not obey the voice of the Lord) and went in as far as (DJ)Tahpanhes.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in (DK)Tahpanhes, saying, “Take some large stones in your [ai]hands and hide them in the mortar in the [aj]brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s [ak]palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of [al]some of the Jews; 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am going to send and get (DL)Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (DM)My servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his (DN)canopy over them. 11 He will also come and (DO)strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and (DP)those for the sword to the sword. 12 And [am]I shall set fire to the temples of the (DQ)gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So he will (DR)wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. 13 He will also shatter the [an]obelisks of [ao]Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”’”

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 40:4 Lit it is good in your eyes
  2. Jeremiah 40:4 Lit set my eyes on
  3. Jeremiah 40:4 Lit it is evil in your eyes
  4. Jeremiah 40:4 Lit refrain!
  5. Jeremiah 40:5 Lit he
  6. Jeremiah 40:5 I.e. Nebuzaradan
  7. Jeremiah 40:7 Or princes
  8. Jeremiah 40:7 Lit infants
  9. Jeremiah 41:1 Lit seed
  10. Jeremiah 41:4 Or second
  11. Jeremiah 41:5 Lit having cut themselves
  12. Jeremiah 41:9 Or by the side of
  13. Jeremiah 41:12 Lit waters
  14. Jeremiah 41:16 Lit brought back
  15. Jeremiah 41:16 Lit men of war
  16. Jeremiah 41:16 Lit infants
  17. Jeremiah 41:17 Or the lodging place of Chimham
  18. Jeremiah 42:1 Or princes
  19. Jeremiah 42:2 Lit fall
  20. Jeremiah 42:4 Lit word
  21. Jeremiah 42:5 Lit word
  22. Jeremiah 42:6 Lit good
  23. Jeremiah 42:6 Lit evil
  24. Jeremiah 42:8 Or princes
  25. Jeremiah 42:10 Or shall have changed my mind about
  26. Jeremiah 42:15 Lit now therefore
  27. Jeremiah 42:15 Lit face
  28. Jeremiah 42:17 Lit face
  29. Jeremiah 42:20 Or acted errantly in your souls
  30. Jeremiah 42:21 Lit listened to the voice of
  31. Jeremiah 43:4 Or princes
  32. Jeremiah 43:5 Or princes
  33. Jeremiah 43:6 Lit infants
  34. Jeremiah 43:6 Lit the son
  35. Jeremiah 43:9 Lit hand
  36. Jeremiah 43:9 Or brickwork
  37. Jeremiah 43:9 Lit house
  38. Jeremiah 43:9 Lit men
  39. Jeremiah 43:12 Some ancient versions read He will set
  40. Jeremiah 43:13 Or stone pillars
  41. Jeremiah 43:13 Heb Beth-shemesh; i.e. the house of the sun-god