Jeremiah 41:4-9

Expanded Bible

⁴ The day after Gedaliah was murdered, before anyone knew about it, ⁵ eighty men came to Mizpah bringing ·grain [^Lgift; tribute] offerings [Lev. 2:1] and incense to the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of the Lord. Those men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria [^Cimportant centers in northern Israel] had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and ·cut [gashed] themselves [^Cmourning rituals]. ⁶ Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, crying as he walked. When he ·met [encountered] them, he said, “Come with me to meet Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ⁷ So they went into Mizpah. Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and his men ·killed [slaughtered] seventy of them and threw the bodies into a deep ·well [cistern; pit]. ⁸ But the ten men who were ·left alive [^Lstill found] said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have stores of wheat and barley and oil and honey that we have hidden in a field.” So ·Ishmael let them live [^Lhe stopped] and did not kill them with the others. ⁹ Now the ·well [cistern; pit] where he had thrown all the bodies had been made by King Asa [^Cruled 913–873 bc] as a part of his defenses against Baasha king of Israel [^Cruled 900–877 bc; 1 Kin. 15:9–24; 15:33—16:7]. But Ishmael son of Nethaniah put dead bodies in it until it was full.