⁹ Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, ^(A)and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will dwell at ^(B)Mizpah, to represent you before the Chaldeans who will come to us. But as for you, ^(C)gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹ Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in ^(D)Moab and among ^(E)the Ammonites and in ^(F)Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, ^12 (G)then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they ^(H)gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.

^18 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)eat your bread with quaking, and drink water with trembling and with anxiety. ¹⁹ And say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: ^(C)They shall eat their bread with anxiety, ^(D)and drink water in dismay. In this way ^(E)her land will be stripped of all it contains, ^(F)on account of the violence of all those who dwell in it.

¹⁶ Moreover, he said to me, ^(A)“Son of man, behold, ^(B)I will break the supply^[a] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^(C)by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^(D)by measure and in dismay. ¹⁷ I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^(E)look at one another in dismay, and ^(F)rot away because of their punishment.

¹⁶ then the sword ^(A)that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, ^(B)and there you shall die.

¹⁴ and saying, ‘No, ^(A)we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or ^(B)hear the sound of the trumpet or ^(C)be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, ^(A)whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Gedaliah Murdered

41 ^(A)In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^(B)Mizpah. As they ^(C)ate bread together there at Mizpah, ^2 (D)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, ^(E)whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. ³ Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at ^(F)Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

⁴ On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, ⁵ eighty men arrived from ^(G)Shechem and ^(H)Shiloh and ^(I)Samaria, with ^(J)their beards shaved and ^(K)their clothes torn, and ^(L)their bodies gashed, ^(M)bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. ⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from ^(N)Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” ⁷ When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. ⁸ But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have ^(O)stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.

⁹ Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with^[a] Gedaliah was the large cistern that ^(P)King Asa had made for defense against ^(Q)Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^(R)the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom ^(S)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to ^(T)the Ammonites.

¹⁷ and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink ^(A)the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.