Jeremiah 40:13-41:10

New King James Version

¹³ Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, ¹⁴ and said to him, ^[a]“Do you certainly know that ^(A)Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the ^(B)remnant in Judah perish?”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”

Insurrection Against Gedaliah

41 Now it came to pass in the seventh month ^(C)that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal ^[b]family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^(D)Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah. ² Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and ^(E)struck Gedaliah the son of ^(F)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made ^(G)governor over the land. ³ 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.

⁴ And it happened, on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it, ⁵ that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men ^(H)with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to ^(I)the house of the Lord. ⁶ Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷ So it was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah ^(J)killed them and cast them into the midst of a ^[c]pit, he and the men who were with him. ⁸ But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.” So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. ⁹ Now the ^[d]pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, because of Gedaliah, was ^(K)the same one Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the ^(L)rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^(M)the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, ^(N)whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to ^(O)the Ammonites.