The Massacre of the Mourners

⁴ And then^[a] on the second day of the killing of Gedaliah—and no one^[b] knew— ⁵ then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with shaven beards^[c] and torn garments, who had cut themselves with blades, having^[d] grain offerings^[e] and frankincense in their hands^[f] to bring to the temple^[g] of Yahweh. ⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, weeping as he came.^[h] And then^[i] as he was meeting them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.” ⁷ And then,^[j] the moment of their coming to the middle of the city, then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, along with^[k] the men who were with him, slaughtered^[l] them and threw them to the middle of the pit.^{[m] 8} But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, “You must not kill us, for we have^[n] hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen. ⁹ Now the pit^[o] into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had killed along with^[p] Gedaliah was the same one that King Asa had made because of Baasha the king of Israel, who was against him. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain ones.