Chronological

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.

42 Then all the military commanders, Yochanan the son of Kareach, Y’zanyah the son of Hosha‘yah and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached ² and said to Yirmeyahu the prophet, “I beg you, approve our request: pray for us to Adonai your God for all of this remnant. For, while once we were numerous, only a few of us are left, as you can see. ³ Pray that Adonai your God will tell us what direction to take and what to do.”

⁴ Yirmeyahu the prophet said to them: “I hear you. All right, I will pray to Adonai your God, as you have asked. And whatever Adonai answers you, I will tell you; I will withhold nothing from you.” ⁵ They said to Yirmeyahu, “May Adonai be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do any part of what Adonai your God gives you to tell us. ⁶ Whether it be good or bad, we will listen to what Adonai our God says. We are dispatching you to him so that things will go well with us, as we heed what Adonai our God says.”

⁷ Ten days later the word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu. ⁸ So he called Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders with him and all the people, from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and said to them, “You sent me to present your request to Adonai the God of Isra’el. This is what he says: ¹⁰ ‘If you will stay in this land, then I will build you up, not pull you down; I will plant you and not uproot you; for I am relenting from the calamity I inflicted on you. ¹¹ Don’t be afraid of the king of Bavel — of whom you are afraid. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says Adonai, ‘for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. ¹² I will take pity on you, so that he will take pity on you and cause you to return to your own land.

¹³ “But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thereby not heeding what Adonai your God is saying, ¹⁴ and instead say, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt; because there we will not see war or hear the shofar sounding its alarm or be short of food; so we’ll stay there’; ¹⁵ then hear what Adonai says, remnant of Y’hudah — this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and stay there, ¹⁶ the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, of which you are afraid, will pursue you relentlessly there in Egypt; and there you will die. ¹⁷ This is how it will be for all the people determined to go to Egypt and stay there — they will die by sword, famine and plague; none of them will remain or escape the disaster that I will bring upon them.’ ¹⁸ For here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so likewise my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt; so that you will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach; and you will see this place no more.’

¹⁹ “Adonai has spoken concerning you, remnant of Y’hudah! Don’t go to Egypt! You know for a fact that I have given you fair warning today. ²⁰ For you have been behaving deceitfully, against your own interests. You sent me to Adonai your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Adonai our God; tell us everything Adonai our God says, and we will do it.’ ²¹ Today I have told it to you, but you haven’t heeded any part of what Adonai your God gave me to tell you. ²² Therefore, know for a fact that you will die by sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go and live.”

43 When Yirmeyahu had finished telling all the people everything Adonai their God had said, which Adonai their God had sent him to tell them, the entire speech cited above, ² then ‘Azaryah the son of Hosha‘yah, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the men with him had the effrontery to say to Yirmeyahu, “You are lying! Adonai our God did not send you to say, ‘Don’t go to Egypt and live there’! ³ Rather, Barukh the son of Neriyah is inciting you against us, so that we can be handed over to the Kasdim to be put to death or carried off as captives to Bavel.”

⁴ So Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders and all the people did not heed what Adonai said, to live in the land of Y’hudah. ⁵ Instead, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders took all the remnant of Y’hudah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven to live in the land of Y’hudah — ⁶ the men, the women, the children, the king’s daughters, everyone N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard had committed to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, and Yirmeyahu the prophet and Barukh the son of Neriyah — ⁷ and went to the land of Egypt; for they did not heed what Adonai had said; and they arrived in Tachpanches.

⁸ Then this word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu in Tachpanches: ⁹ “With the men of Y’hudah watching, take some big stones, and set them with mortar in the pavement at the entry to Pharaoh’s palace in Tachpanches. ¹⁰ Tell them: ‘This is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “I will summon N’vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, my servant, take him and set his throne on these stones I laid here; he will come and spread his royal canopy over them. ¹¹ He will come and attack the land of Egypt.

¹² I will light a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn [those gods] or take them captive. He will fold up the land of Egypt like a shepherd folding up his cloak, and leave there victorious. ¹³ He will also break the standing-stones of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt and burn to the ground the temples of the gods of Egypt.”’”

44 This word came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people from Y’hudah living in the land of Egypt — in Migdol, Tachpanches, Nof and the land of Patros: ² “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘You have seen all the disaster I inflicted on Yerushalayim and all the cities of Y’hudah; there they are today, ruined, with no one living in them. ³ It came about because of the wicked things they did to make me angry — sacrificing to and serving other gods, whom they did not know, neither they, nor you nor your ancestors. ⁴ I had sent you all my servants the prophets, sent them frequently, with the message, “Don’t do this horrible thing which I hate!” ⁵ But they neither listened nor obeyed, so as to turn from their wickedness and stop offering to other gods. ⁶ Hence my fury and anger were poured out and ignited in the cities of Y’hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim; so that they became waste and desolate, as they are today.’

⁷ “Therefore now, Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says this: ‘Why are you committing this great sin against yourselves? The result can only be to cut you off from Y’hudah — men, women, children and babies — so that none of you remain. ⁸ For you continue provoking me with the products of your own hands, offering to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live as aliens. It will lead only to your destruction and becoming an object of curses and reproaches among all the nations of the earth. ⁹ Have you forgotten the wicked deeds of your ancestors, the wicked deeds of the kings of Y’hudah, the wicked deeds of their wives, your own wicked deeds, and the wicked deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? ¹⁰ To this day they remain unhumbled; they have not been afraid, and they have not lived according to my Torah or my regulations that I presented to you and your ancestors.’

¹¹ “Therefore here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘I will decree disaster for you and destroy all of Y’hudah. ¹² I will take the remnant of Y’hudah, who determined to go to Egypt and live there as aliens, and they will all perish — in the land of Egypt they will fall and perish by sword and famine. They will die, from the least to the greatest, by sword and famine; and they will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach. ¹³ Yes, I will punish those living in the land of Egypt, as I punished Yerushalayim, by sword, famine and plague; ¹⁴ so that none of the remnant of Y’hudah who went into the land of Egypt to live as aliens will escape or remain, to be able to return to the land of Y’hudah. They long to return and live there, but none will return except a few refugees.’”

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives were offering incense to other gods, along with all the women standing by, a huge crowd, all the people living in Patros in the land of Egypt, answered Yirmeyahu: ¹⁶ “As for the word you have just spoken to us in the name of Adonai, we will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Instead, we will certainly continue to fulfill every word our mouths have spoken: we will offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our ancestors, our kings and our leaders, in the cities of Y’hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim. For then we had plenty of food; everything was fine, we didn’t experience anything unpleasant. ¹⁸ But since we stopped offering to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been destroyed by sword and famine.” ¹⁹ [Then the wives added,] “Are we the ones who offer incense to the queen of heaven? Do we pour out drink offerings to her? And did we make cakes marked with her image for her and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ consent?”

²⁰ Then Yirmeyahu said to all the people — to the men, the women, and all the people who had answered him back: ²¹ “The incense you offered in the cities of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim — you, your ancestors, your kings, your leaders and the people of the land — Adonai kept remembering and taking note of this [insult], ²² until Adonai could no longer bear it, so evil and so detestable were your deeds. This is why your land has become a wasteland, an object for astonishment and cursing, uninhabited, as it is today. ²³ It is because you offered incense, sinned against Adonai, didn’t listen to what Adonai said, and didn’t live by his Torah, regulations and instructions that this disaster has befallen you, as it is today.”

²⁴ In addition, Yirmeyahu said to all the people, but especially the women: “Hear the word of Adonai, all Y’hudah who are in the land of Egypt; ²⁵ this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘You and your wives stated your intentions with your mouths and performed them with your hands — you said, “We will certainly fulfill our vows that we made to offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.”’ Without doubt, you will indeed fulfill every point of your vows. ²⁶ Therefore hear the word of Adonai, all Y’hudah living in the land of Egypt: ‘I swear by my own great name,’ says Adonai, ‘that no man of Y’hudah will speak my name again in the land of Egypt, swearing, “As Adonai, God, lives.” ²⁷ I am watching over them for harm, not for good. All the men of Y’hudah in the land of Egypt will be destroyed by sword and famine, until none of them is left. ²⁸ Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Y’hudah few in number; and all the remnant of Y’hudah who went into the land of Egypt to live will know whose word will stand — mine or theirs! ²⁹ Moreover, here is a sign for you,’ says Adonai, ‘that I will punish you in this place, so that you can know that my threats of disaster against you will come true.’ ³⁰ Adonai says, ‘I will hand over Pharaoh Hofra king of Egypt to his enemies, to those seeking his life — just as I handed Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah over to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel, his enemy, who sought his life.’”

45 Here is what Yirmeyahu said to Barukh the son of Neriyah when he wrote these words in a book at Yirmeyahu’s dictation, in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah: ² “This is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says concerning you, Barukh. You said,

⁴ “Tell him that Adonai says:

⁵ Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t! For I am bringing disaster on everything living,’ says Adonai. ‘But wherever you go, you will escape with your life.’”