On the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when no one knew yet, 80 men came from Shechem, Shiloh,(A) and Samaria(B) who had shaved their beards,(C) torn their garments, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the Lord.(D) Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said: “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!” But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into[a] a cistern.

However, there were 10 men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions. Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one[b] that King Asa had made in the encounter with Baasha king of Israel.(E) Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 41:7 Syr; MT reads slaughtered them in
  2. Jeremiah 41:9 LXX; MT reads down by the hand of Gedaliah

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