Beginning
38 Then Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, the son of Pashhur, and Jucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, heard the Words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying,
2 “Thus says the LORD: ‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. But he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live. For his life shall be as a prize, and he shall live.’
3 “Thus says the LORD: ‘This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babel’s army, which shall take it.’”
4 Therefore the princes said to the king, “We implore you, let this man be put to death. For thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the wealth of this people, but the hurt.”
5 Then Zedekiah the king said, “Behold, he is in your hands. For the king can deny you nothing.”
6 Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison. And they let down Jeremiah with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
7 Now when Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the Eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon and that the king sat in the gate of Benjamin,
8 Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying,
9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the Prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. And he dies of hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take Jeremiah the Prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.”
11 So, Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, under the treasury, and took old rotten rags there, and old worn clothes, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon, to Jeremiah.
12 And Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn clothes under your arm pits, in the place of the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.
13 So they drew up Jeremiah with ropes and took him up out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and brought Jeremiah the Prophet to him, into the third entry of the House of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not kill me? And if I give you counsel, you will not hear me.”
16 So the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the LORD lives, Who made us these souls, I will not kill you or give you into the hands of those men who seek your life.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you will go forth to the king of Babel’s princes, then your soul shall live. And this city shall not be burnt up with fire. And you and your House shall live.
18 ‘But if you will not go forth to the king of Babel’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans. And they shall burn it with fire. And you shall not escape out of their hands.’”
19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen before the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hands, and they mock me.”
20 But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please listen to the Voice of the LORD which I speak to you. So shall it go well with you, and your soul shall live.
21 “But if you will refuse to go forth, this is the Word that the LORD has shown me:
22 ‘And behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babel’s princes. And those women shall say, “Your friends have misled you and have overcome you. Your feet were sunken in the mire. They have turned back.”
23 ‘So they shall bring out all your wives, and your children, to the Chaldeans. And you shall not escape from their hands, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babel. And you shall cause this city to be burnt with fire.’”
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know of these words, and you shall not die.
25 “But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us, now, what you have said to the king and also what the king said to you. Do not hide it from us, and we will not kill you,’
26 “then you shall say to them, ‘I humbly petitioned the king not to make me return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.’”
27 Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So, they stopped speaking with him. For the matter was not heard.
28 So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.
39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, and all his army against Jerusalem. And they besieged it.
2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was breached.
3 And all the princes of the king of Babel came in and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babel.
4 And when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled and went out of the city by night, through the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went toward the wilderness.
5 But the Chaldean’s army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the desert of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.
6 Then the king of Babel killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Also, the king of Babel killed all the nobles of Judah.
7 Moreover, he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in chains, to carry him to Babel.
8 And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Then Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, carried away captive into Babel the remnant of the people who remained in the city, and those who had fled and fallen to him, with the rest of the people who remained.
10 But Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, left the poor who had nothing in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at that same time.
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, gave orders concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, saying,
12 “Take him and look after him and do him no harm. But do to him just as he shall say to you.”
13 So Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezar, Rabmag, and all the king of Babel’s princes.
14 Then they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, so that he would carry him home. So he dwelt among the people.
15 Now the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was detained in the court of the prison, saying,
16 “Go and speak to Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring My Words upon this city for misery, and not for prosperity. And they shall be accomplished before you on that day.
17 “But I will deliver you on that day,” says the LORD, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men whom you fear.
18 “For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword. But your life shall be as a prize for you because you have put your trust in Me,” says the LORD.’”
40 The Word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, had let him go from Ramah when he had taken him, bound in chains, among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, and were carried away captive to Babel.
2 And the chief steward took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God has pronounced this plague upon this place.
3 “Now the LORD has brought it and done as He has said. Because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed His Voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.
4 “And now, behold, I free you this day from the chains which were on your hands. If it pleases you to come with me to Babel, come. And I will look after you well. But if it pleases you not to come with me to Babel, stay here. Behold, all the land is before you. Wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”
5 Still, Jeremiah did not return. Therefore, the chief steward said, “Return to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babel has made governor over all the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it pleases you to go.” So, the chief steward gave him rations and a reward and let him go.
6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah and dwelt there with him among the people who were left in the land.
7 Now when all the captains of the army who were in the fields, both they and their men, heard that the king of Babel had made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, governor in the land, and that he had committed to him men and women and children and of the poor of the land who were not carried away captive to Babel,
8 then they came to Gedaliah, to Mizpah—Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, Johanan, Jonathan, the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of Maachathi—both they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babel, and it shall be well with you.
10 “As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to serve the Chaldeans who will come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”
11 Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babel had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,
12 then all the Jews returned from all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered much wine and summer fruits.
13 Moreover, Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah, to Mizpah,
14 and said to him, “Do you not know that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to kill you?” But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, did not believe them.
15 Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, “Please let me go, and I will kill Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. And no one shall know it. Why should he kill you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?”
16 But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, said to Johanan, the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing. For you speak falsely about Ishmael.”
41 But in the seventh month came Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and the princes of the king, and ten men with him, to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah. And they ate bread together there, in Mizpah.
2 Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, arose with these ten men who were with him and struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babel had made governor over the land.
3 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and all the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
4 Now, the second day after he had killed Gedaliah (though no one knew it),
5 80 men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes ripped and cut, with offerings and incense in their hands, to offer in the House of the LORD.
6 And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. And when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.”
7 And when they came into the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and the men who were with him.
8 But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. For we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey.” So he refrained, and did not kill them along with their brethren.
9 Now the pit in which Ishmael had cast the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed because of Gedaliah is the same one which Asa the king had made because of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled it with those who were killed.
10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, had committed to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites.
11 But when Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done,
12 then they all took men and went to fight with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
13 Now, when all the people whom Ishmael carried away captive saw Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, they were glad.
14 So, all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah, turned around and came back and went to Johanan, the son of Kareah.
15 But Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.
16 Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, took the whole remnant of the people whom Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had carried away captive from Mizpah (after he had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam), the strong men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs whom he had brought back from Gibeon.
17 And they departed and dwelt in Geruth, Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, on the way to Egypt,
18 because of the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babel made governor in the land.
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