Beginning

38 But Sh’fatyah the son of Mattan, G’dalyahu the son of Pash’chur, Yukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah heard these words which Yirmeyahu had said to all the people, ² “Here is what Adonai says: whoever remains in this city will die by sword, famine and plague; but whoever leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim will stay alive; his own life will be his only ‘spoils of war,’ but he will stay alive. ³ Adonai says that this city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Bavel, and he will capture it.” ⁴ The leaders said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because by speaking such words to the soldiers left in this city and to all the people, he is demoralizing them. This man is seeking not to benefit this people, but to harm them.” ⁵ Tzidkiyahu the king said, “All right, he is in your hands; for the king can’t prevent you from doing as you please.”

⁶ Then they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the cistern of Malkiyahu the king’s son, which was in the guards’ quarters; they let down Yirmeyahu into it with ropes. In the pit there was no water, but there was mud; and Yirmeyahu sank into the mud. ⁷ ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, an officer in the king’s house, heard that they had put Yirmeyahu in the cistern. When the king was sitting at the gate leading toward Binyamin, ⁸ ‘Eved-Melekh left the palace and said to the king, ⁹ “My lord, king! What these men have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet is evil. They have thrown him into the cistern; and he is likely to die there where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more food in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king ordered ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and bring Yirmeyahu the prophet up out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So ‘Eved-Melekh took the men with him and entered a storeroom under the treasury in the king’s palace, from which he took some old clothes and rags. These he let down with ropes to Yirmeyahu in the cistern. ¹² ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian then said to Yirmeyahu, “Use these old clothes and rags as padding between your armpits and the ropes.” After Yirmeyahu had done this, ¹³ they pulled Yirmeyahu up with the ropes and took him out of the cistern. Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters.

¹⁴ Tzidkiyahu summoned and had Yirmeyahu brought to him through the third entry in the house of Adonai. Then the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I want to ask you something; don’t hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “If I do say it to you, won’t you have me put to death? And if I give you counsel, you won’t listen to me.” ¹⁶ So Tzidkiyahu swore secretly to Yirmeyahu, “As Adonai lives, who gave us our lives, I will not put you to death; nor will I hand you over to these men who want you put to death.”

¹⁷ Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘If you will go out and surrender to the king of Bavel’s officers, then you will stay alive — this city will not be burned down; and you and your family will live. ¹⁸ But if you will not go out to the king of Bavel’s officers, then this city will be handed over to the Kasdim; they will burn it to the ground; and you will not escape from them.’” ¹⁹ Tzidkiyahu the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I am afraid of the Judeans who deserted to the Kasdim. The Kasdim might hand me over to them, and they would mistreat me.” ²⁰ Yirmeyahu answered, “They won’t hand you over. I beg you, listen to the voice of Adonai concerning what I’m telling you about; then it will go well with you, and you will live. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, then this is the word Adonai has shown me: ²² all the women remaining in the king of Y’hudah’s palace will be brought out to the king of Bavel’s officers, and those women will taunt you:

²³ They will bring all your women and children out to the Kasdim, and you will not escape from them. Rather, you will be captured by the king of Bavel, and you will cause this city to be burned to the ground.”

²⁴ Tzidkiyahu said to Yirmeyahu, “Don’t tell anyone what you just said, or you will die. ²⁵ If the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king; don’t hide it from us, or we will put you to death, and also what the king said to you,’ ²⁶ then tell them, ‘I presented my request to the king that he would not make me return to Y’honatan’s house, to die there.’” ²⁷ All the officials did come to Yirmeyahu and asked him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they stopped speaking with him, since the matter had not been reported.

²⁸ Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters until the day Yerushalayim was captured; he was there when Yerushalayim was captured.

39 In the ninth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, in the tenth month, N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army and began to lay siege against it. ² On the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, they broke through into the city. ³ All the officers of the king of Bavel entered and sat at the Middle Gate — Nergal-Sar’etzer, Samgar-N’vo, Sars’khim the Rav-Saris, Nergal-Sar’etzer the Rav-Mag and all the other officers of the king of Bavel. ⁴ When Tzidkiyahu the king of Y’hudah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, leaving the city by night through the king’s garden, exiting from the gate between the two walls, and continuing out by the route through the ‘Aravah. ⁵ But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of them and overtook Tzidkiyahu on the plains near Yericho. Upon capturing him, they brought him up to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel at Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, where he passed judgment on him. ⁶ The king of Bavel slaughtered the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes in Rivlah; the king of Bavel also slaughtered all the leading men of Y’hudah. ⁷ Then he put out Tzidkiyahu’s eyes and bound him in chains to be carried off to Bavel. ⁸ The Kasdim burned down the royal palace and the people’s houses, and they broke down the walls of Yerushalayim. ⁹ N’vuzar’adan commander of the guard then deported to Bavel the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to him, and the rest of the people remaining. ¹⁰ But N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard left behind in the territory of Y’hudah some of the poor people, those who had nothing, and at the same time gave them vineyards and fields.

¹¹ Concerning Yirmeyahu, N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel gave N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard this order: ¹² “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but treat him as he tells you.” ¹³ So N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard, N’vushazban the Rav-Saris, Nergal-Sar’etzer the Rav-Mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Bavel ¹⁴ sent to have Yirmeyahu taken out of the guards’ quarters; they committed him to the care of G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, to be brought home. There he lived among the people.

¹⁵ This word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu while he was imprisoned in the guards’ quarters: ¹⁶ “Go and tell ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian that Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘“I am about to fulfill my words about this city for disaster, not for good; when the day arrives, they will come true before your eyes. ¹⁷ But at that time I will rescue you,” says Adonai, “and I will not hand you over to the men you fear. ¹⁸ Yes, I will keep you safe; you will not fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says Adonai.’”

40 This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai after N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard had let him leave Ramah, after having taken him, bound in chains, with all the captives from Yerushalayim and Y’hudah that had been carried off to Bavel. ² The commander of the guard took Yirmeyahu and said to him, “Adonai your God decreed this disaster for this place, ³ and Adonai has brought it about; he has done what he said he would do, because you people sinned against Adonai and did not listen to what he said; that is why this has come upon you. ⁴ Now, today, I am freeing you from the chains on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Bavel, come; and I will look after you well. But if it seems not good to you to come with me to Bavel, then don’t — the entire land is in front of you: wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there.” ⁵ Before Yirmeyahu could answer, [N’vuzar’adan said,] “Go back then to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, whom the king of Bavel has made governor over the cities of Y’hudah, and live with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right for you to go.” The commander of the guard gave him provisions and a gift, and dismissed him. ⁶ Yirmeyahu then went to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam in Mitzpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

⁷ Now when all the field force commanders and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G’dalyahu the son of Achikam governor in the land and had committed to his care men, women, children and some of the poorest people in the land of those who had not been carried captive to Bavel; ⁸ they approached G’dalyahu in Mitzpah — in particular, Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, Yochanan and Yonatan the sons of Kareach, S’rayah the son of Tanchumet, the sons of ‘Efai the N’tofati and Y’zanyahu the son of the Ma‘akhati, they and their men. ⁹ G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, swore to them and their men, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Kasdim. Live in the land, serve the king of Bavel; and things will go well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will live in Mitzpah and be responsible to the Kasdim who come to us. But you — harvest wine, summer fruits and olive oil; put them in your containers; and live in your cities that you have taken over.”

¹¹ Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Mo’av, in Edom, among the people of ‘Amon, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Bavel had left a remnant in Y’hudah and had appointed G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, to govern them; ¹² then all the Judeans returned from all the places where they had been driven and came to the land of Y’hudah, to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah, and harvested wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

¹³ Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the field force commanders came to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah ¹⁴ and said to him, “Are you aware that Ba‘alis the king of the people of ‘Amon has sent Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu to take your life?” But G’dalyahu the son of Achikam did not believe them. ¹⁵ Then Yochanan the son of Kareach spoke privately with G’dalyahu in Mitzpah: “Please, let me go, and I will kill Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu; no one will know. Why let him assassinate you? Moreover, if he does, all the Judeans gathered around you will scatter; and the remnant of Y’hudah will perish.” ¹⁶ But G’dalyahu the son of Achikam said to Yochanan the son of Kareach, “Don’t do it. What you are saying about Yishma‘el is not true.”

41 In the seventh month Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, the son of Elishama, of royal blood and one of the chief officials of the king, came with ten men to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah. While eating a meal together there in Mitzpah, ² Yishma‘el and the ten men with him rose and attacked G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, struck him with their swords, and assassinated the man whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land. ³ Yishma‘el also murdered all the Judeans who were with G’dalyahu at Mitzpah, as well as the Kasdim soldiers they found there.

⁴ The next day, before his assassination of G’dalyahu had become known, ⁵ eighty men from Sh’khem, Shiloh and Shomron came with beards shaved off, clothes torn and gashes on their bodies; they had grain offerings and frankincense with them to present in the house of Adonai. ⁶ Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu went out from Mitzpah to meet them, weeping all along the way; on meeting them, he said to them, “Come to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam.” ⁷ But once they were inside the city, Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern. ⁸ However, ten of them said to Yishma‘el, “Don’t kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, olive oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he relented, and did not kill them along with their comrades. ⁹ The cistern in which Yishma‘el threw the corpses of the men he had murdered with G’dalyahu was the one Asa the king had made in fear of Ba‘asha king of Isra’el; it was this cistern that Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu filled with the slaughtered men. ¹⁰ Then Yishma‘el carried off captive the rest of the people in Mitzpah — the king’s daughters and all the people left in Mitzpah, whom N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard had committed to the care of G’dalyahu the son of Achikam. Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu carried them off captive and left to cross over to the people of ‘Amon.

¹¹ When Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him heard of all the crimes committed by Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, ¹² they took all the men and went to attack Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu. They found him by the big pool in Giv‘on. ¹³ When all Yishma‘el’s captives saw Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him, they were overjoyed. ¹⁴ So all the people Yishma‘el had carried off captive from Mitzpah turned and joined Yochanan the son of Kareach. ¹⁵ But Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu escaped from Yochanan with eight men and went on to the people of ‘Amon. ¹⁶ Yochanan the son of Kareach and the military commanders with him then took all the rest of the people he had freed from Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, those Yishma‘el had taken from Mitzpah after assassinating G’dalyahu the son of Achikam — the heroes, the soldiers, the women, the children and the officers he had brought back from Giv‘on — ¹⁷ and they left there to stay at Kimham’s Lodge, near Beit-Lechem, intending to go on to Egypt ¹⁸ and thus escape the Kasdim. They were afraid of them, because Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu had murdered G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land.