The Rechabites’ Example

35 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim(A) son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them,(B) and bring them to one of the chambers(C) of the temple of the Lord to offer them a drink of wine.”

So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the entire house of the Rechabites— and I brought them into the temple of the Lord to a chamber occupied by the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God,(D) who had a chamber near the officials’ chamber, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. I set jars filled with wine and some cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites and said to them, “Drink wine!”

But they replied, “We do not drink wine, for Jonadab,(E) son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded: ‘You and your sons must never drink wine. You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a temporary resident.’(F) We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven’t drunk wine our whole life—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. We also have not built houses to live in and do not have vineyard, field, or seed. 10 But we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done as our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. 11 However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land,(G) we said: Come, let’s go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies. So we have been living in Jerusalem.”

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The Faithful Recabites

35 This is the message the Lord gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah: “Go to the settlement where the families of the Recabites live, and invite them to the Lord’s Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms, and offer them some wine.”

So I went to see Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah and grandson of Habazziniah and all his brothers and sons—representing all the Recabite families. I took them to the Temple, and we went into the room assigned to the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. This room was located next to the one used by the Temple officials, directly above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the Temple gatekeeper.

I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink, but they refused. “No,” they said, “we don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jehonadab[a] son of Recab gave us this command: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. And do not build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but always live in tents. If you follow these commands, you will live long, good lives in the land.’ So we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine to this day, nor have our wives, our sons, or our daughters. We haven’t built houses or owned vineyards or farms or planted crops. 10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed all the commands of Jehonadab, our ancestor. 11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar[b] of Babylon attacked this country, we were afraid of the Babylonian and Syrian[c] armies. So we decided to move to Jerusalem. That is why we are here.”

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Footnotes

  1. 35:6 Hebrew Jonadab, a variant spelling of Jehonadab; also in 35:10, 19. See 2 Kgs 10:15.
  2. 35:11a Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
  3. 35:11b Or Chaldean and Aramean.