41 In the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama of the royal seed, and the officials of the king, even ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah. While they were eating bread together in Mizpah, ² Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men that were with him arose and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan with the sword and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. ³ Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with him, even with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, and the men of war.

⁴ On the day after he had slain Gedaliah, when no one knew it, ⁵ eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, having their beards shaven, and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, with offerings and incense in their hands to bring them to the house of the Lord. ⁶ Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went. As he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷ Yet it was so when they came into the midst of the city that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, he and the men who were with him, slew them and cast them into the midst of the cistern. ⁸ But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, “Do not slay us, for we have stores in the field, of wheat and barley, and of oil and honey.” So he refrained and did not slay them among their brothers. ⁹ Now the cistern in which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was what Asa the king had made because of Baasha the king of Israel. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah 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 the Ammonites.

¹¹ But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹² then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. ¹³ And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴ So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and returned, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶ Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷ And they departed and lived in the habitation of Geruth Kimham, which is by Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt, ¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.