Old/New Testament
Jeremiah Is Set Free
40 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. This was after Nebuzaradan, commander of the guards, had set Jeremiah free at the city of Ramah. He had found Jeremiah in Ramah bound in chains. He was with all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah. They were being taken away to Babylon. 2 When commander Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan said to him, “The Lord your God announced this disaster would come to this place. 3 And now the Lord has done everything he said he would do. This disaster happened because the people of Judah sinned against the Lord. You people did not obey the Lord. 4 But now I will set you free. I am taking the chains off your wrists. If you want to, come with me to Babylon. And I will take good care of you. But if you don’t want to come, then don’t. Look, the whole country is open to you.” 5 Before Jeremiah turned to leave, Nebuzaradan said, “Or go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. The king of Babylon has chosen Gedaliah to be governor over the towns of Judah. Go and live with Gedaliah among the people. Or go anywhere you want.”
Then Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go. 6 So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. And Jeremiah stayed with him there. He lived among the people who were left behind in Judah.
The Short Rule of Gedaliah
7 There were some officers and their men from the army of Judah. These men were still out in the open country. They heard that the king of Babylon had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge. He was put in charge of the people who were left in the land: the men, women and children who were very poor. They were the ones who were not carried off to Babylon as captives. 8 So these soldiers came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah. Also Seraiah son of Tanhumeth and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite came. And Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite and their men came.
9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, made a promise to them. Gedaliah said, “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon. Then everything will go well for you. 10 I myself will live in Mizpah. I will speak for you before the Babylonians who come here. You harvest the wine, the summer fruit and the oil. Put what you harvest in your storage jars. Live in the towns you control.”
11 Some Jews were in Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries. They heard that the king of Babylon had left a few Jews alive in the land. And they heard the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah as governor over them. (Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.) 12 When the people of Judah heard this news, they came back to Judah. They came back to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They came from all the countries where they had been scattered. They gathered a large harvest of wine and summer fruit.
13 Johanan son of Kareah came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. All the army officers of Judah still in the open country also came. 14 Johanan and the officers with him said to Gedaliah, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonite people wants you dead? He has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you.” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah. He said to Gedaliah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know anything about it. We should not let Ishmael kill you. All the Jews gathered around you would be scattered to different countries again. Then the few people of Judah who are left alive would be lost.”
16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not kill Ishmael! The things you are saying about Ishmael are not true!”
41 In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. (Nethaniah was the son of Elishama.) Ishmael came with ten of his men to Mizpah. Now Ishmael was a member of the king’s family. He had been one of the officers of the king of Judah. Ishmael and his men ate a meal with Gedaliah at Mizpah. 2 While they were eating together, Ishmael and his ten men got up. They killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam with a sword. Gedaliah was the man the king of Babylon had chosen as governor over Judah. 3 Ishmael killed all the Jews with Gedaliah at Mizpah, too. He also killed the Babylonian soldiers who were there with Gedaliah.
4-5 The day after Gedaliah was murdered, 80 men came to Mizpah. They were bringing grain offerings and incense to the Temple of the Lord. Those 80 men had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves.[a] They came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria. None of them knew that Gedaliah had been murdered. 6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them. He cried as he walked. When he met 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 70 of them! They threw the bodies into a deep well. 8 But the 10 men who were left alive said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley. And we have oil and honey. We have hidden these things in a field.” So Ishmael let those 10 men alone. He did not kill them with the others. 9 Now the well where he had thrown the bodies had been made by King Asa. Asa had made the well as a part of his defenses against Baasha king of Israel. But Ishmael son of Nethaniah put dead bodies in it until it was full.
10 Ishmael captured all the other people in Mizpah. He captured the king’s daughters and all the other people who were left there. They were the people whom Nebuzaradan commander of the guard had chosen Gedaliah son of Ahikam to take care of. So Ishmael son of Nethaniah captured those people. And he started to cross over to the country of the Ammonites.
11 Johanan son of Kareah heard about all the evil things Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done. All the army officers with him heard it, too. 12 So Johanan and the army officers took their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught him near the big pool of water at Gibeon. 13 The captives Ishmael had taken saw Johanan and the army officers. And they became very happy. 14 Then all the people Ishmael had taken captive turned around. They ran to Johanan son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan. And they ran away to the Ammonites.
16 So Johanan son of Kareah and all his army officers saved the captives. Ishmael son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Then he had taken those people from Mizpah. Among those left alive were soldiers, women, children and court officers. Johanan brought them back from the town of Gibeon.
The Escape to Egypt
17-18 Johanan and the other army officers were afraid of the Babylonians. The king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah son of Ahikam to be governor of Judah. But Ishmael son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah. So Johanan was afraid that the Babylonians would be angry. They decided to run away to Egypt. On the way they stayed at Geruth Kimham, near the town of Bethlehem.
42 While there, Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah went to Jeremiah the prophet. All the army officers went with Johanan and Jezaniah. All the people, from the least important to the greatest, all went along, too. 2 They said to him, “Jeremiah, please listen to what we ask. Pray to the Lord your God. Pray for all the people left alive from the family of Judah. At one time there were many of us. You can see that there are few of us now. 3 So pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go. And pray he will tell us what we should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet answered, “I understand what you want me to do. I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything he says. I will not hide anything from you.”
5 Then the people said to Jeremiah, “We will do everything the Lord your God tells us. If we don’t, may the Lord be a true and loyal witness against us. We know he will send you to tell us what to do. 6 It does not matter if we like the message or not. We will obey the Lord our God. We are sending you to the Lord for a message from him. We will obey what he says. Then good things will happen to us.”
7 Ten days later the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. 8 Then Jeremiah called for Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were with him. Jeremiah also called all the other people, from the least important to the greatest. 9 Then Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to ask the Lord for what you wanted. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 10 ‘If you will stay in Judah, I will make you strong. I will not destroy you. I will plant you, and I will not pull you up. This is because I am sad about the disaster I brought on you. 11 Now you are afraid of the king of Babylon. But don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon,’ says the Lord. ‘I am with you. I will save you. I will rescue you from his power. 12 I will be kind to you. And the king of Babylon will also treat you with mercy. He will bring you back to your land.’
13 “But you might say, ‘We will not stay in Judah.’ If you say that, you will disobey the Lord your God. 14 Or you might say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt. We will not be bothered with war there. We will not hear the trumpets of war. And in Egypt we will not be hungry.’ 15 If you say that, listen to the message of the Lord. It is to you who are left alive from Judah. This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you make up your mind to go and live in Egypt, these things will happen: 16 You are afraid of war. But it will defeat you in the land of Egypt. And you are worried about hunger. But you will be hungry in Egypt. You will die there. 17 Everyone who goes to live in Egypt will die in war. Or he will die from hunger or terrible disease. No one who goes to Egypt will live. No one will escape the terrible things I will bring to them.’
18 “This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I showed my anger against Jerusalem. I punished the people who lived in Jerusalem. In the same way I will show my anger against you when you go to Egypt. Other nations will speak evil of you. People will be shocked by what has happened to you. You will become a curse word. People will insult you. And you will never see Judah again.’
19 “You who are left alive in Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ I warn you today. 20 You are making a mistake that will cause your deaths. You sent me to the Lord your God. You said to me, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord says, and we will do it.’ 21 So today I have told you the message from the Lord. But you have not obeyed the Lord your God. You have not done all that he sent me to tell you to do. 22 So now be sure you understand this: You want to go to live in Egypt. But you will die by war, hunger or terrible diseases.”
4 Now God has left us that promise that we may enter and have his rest. Let us be very careful, then, so that none of you will fail to get that rest. 2 The Good News was preached to us just as it was to them. But the teaching they heard did not help them. They heard it but did not accept it with faith.[a] 3 We who have believed are able to enter and have God’s rest. As God has said,
“So I was angry and made a promise.
‘They will never enter my land of rest.’” Psalm 95:11
But God’s work was finished from the time he made the world. 4 Somewhere in the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”[b] 5 And again in the Scripture God said, “They will never enter my land of rest.”
6 It is still true that some people will enter and have God’s rest. But those who first heard the way to be saved did not enter. They did not enter because they did not obey. 7 So God planned another day, called “today.” He spoke about that day through David a long time later. It is the same Scripture used before:
“Today listen to what he says.
Do not be stubborn.” Psalm 95:7-8
8 We know that Joshua[c] did not lead the people into that rest. We know this because God spoke later about another day. 9 This shows that the seventh-day rest[d] for God’s people is still coming. 10 For anyone who enters and has God’s rest will rest from his work as God did. 11 So let us try as hard as we can to enter God’s rest. We must try hard so that no one will be lost by following the example of those who refused to obey.
12 God’s word is alive and working. It is sharper than a sword sharpened on both sides. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined. It cuts to the center of our joints and our bones. And God’s word judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. 13 Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. Everything is clear and lies open before him. And to him we must explain the way we have lived.
Jesus Is Our High Priest
14 We have a great high priest who has gone into heaven. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us hold on to the faith we have. 15 For our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. 16 Let us, then, feel free to come before God’s throne. Here there is grace. And we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.