The Assassination of Gedaliah

⁷ When all the commanders of the armies who were in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam in an official position in the land, and that he had put him in charge of^[a] men, and women, and little children, and of the poor of the land, of all those who had not been deported to Babylon, ⁸ then they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, and Jehonathan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ⁹ And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying,^[b] “You must not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ¹⁰ As for me,^[c] look, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before^[d] the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your towns that you have seized.”