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

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 (J)King Asa had made for defense against (K)Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 41:9 Hebrew by the hand of

The next day, before anyone had heard about Gedaliah’s murder, eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria to worship at the Temple of the Lord. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves, and had brought along grain offerings and frankincense. Ishmael left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, “Oh, come and see what has happened to Gedaliah!”

But as soon as they were all inside the town, Ishmael and his men killed all but ten of them and threw their bodies into a cistern. The other ten had talked Ishmael into letting them go by promising to bring him their stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey that they had hidden away. The cistern where Ishmael dumped the bodies of the men he murdered was the large one[a] dug by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah to protect himself against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with corpses.

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Footnotes

  1. 41:9 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads murdered because of Gedaliah was one.