Old/New Testament

Jeremiah Stays in Judah

40 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after ^(A)Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had released him from ^(B)Ramah, when he had taken him bound in ^(C)chains among all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. ² And the captain of the bodyguard had taken Jeremiah and said to him, “^(D)Yahweh your God promised this calamity against this place; ³ and Yahweh has brought it on and done just as He promised. Because you people ^(E)sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you. ⁴ So now, behold, I am ^(F)freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will set my eyes to look after you; but if it ^[a]is displeasing in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, ^[b]never mind. Look, the ^(G)whole land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right in your eyes to go.” ⁵ But as ^[c]Jeremiah had not yet set out to return, ^[d]he said, “Return then to ^(H)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has ^(I)appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people; or else go anywhere that is right in your eyes to go.” So the captain of the bodyguard gave him a ^(J)ration and a ^(K)gift and let him go. ⁶ Then Jeremiah went to ^(L)Mizpah to ^(M)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and stayed with him among the people who remained in the land.

^7 (N)Then all the ^[e]commanders of the military forces that were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam over the land and that he had appointed him over the men, women, little ones, and those of the ^(O)poorest of the land who had not been exiled to Babylon. ⁸ So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with ^(P)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and ^(Q)Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the ^(R)Netophathite, and ^(S)Jezaniah the son of the ^(T)Maacathite, both they and their men. ⁹ Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ^(U)swore to them and to their men, saying, “^(V)Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, that it may go well with you. ¹⁰ Now as for me, behold, I am going to stay at Mizpah to ^(W)stand for you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, ^(X)gather in wine and ^(Y)summer fruit and oil and put them in your storage vessels and stay in your cities that you have seized.” ¹¹ And also all the Jews, who were in ^(Z)Moab and among the sons of ^(AA)Ammon and in ^(AB)Edom and who were in all the other lands, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. ¹² Then all the Jews ^(AC)returned from all the places to which they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered in wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

¹³ Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ¹⁴ and said to him, “Do you indeed know that Baalis the king of the sons of ^(AD)Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to strike down your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. ¹⁵ Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “^(AE)Let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he ^(AF)strike down your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the ^(AG)remnant of Judah would perish?” ¹⁶ But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “^(AH)Do not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”

Ishmael Strikes Down Gedaliah

41 ^(AI)Now it happened in the seventh month, that ^(AJ)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to ^(AK)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And they ^(AL)were eating bread together there in Mizpah. ² Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and ^(AM)struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and ^(AN)put to death the one ^(AO)whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. ³ Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

⁴ Now it happened on the ^[f]next day after putting Gedaliah to death, when no one knew about it, ⁵ that eighty men ^(AP)came from ^(AQ)Shechem, from ^(AR)Shiloh, and from ^(AS)Samaria with ^(AT)their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and ^[g]their bodies ^(AU)gashed, having grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring to the ^(AV)house of Yahweh. ⁶ Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, ^(AW)weeping as he went; and it happened that as he encountered them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” ⁷ But it happened that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men that were with him ^(AX)slaughtered them and cast them into the cistern. ⁸ But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death; for we have ^(AY)stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field.” So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their ^[h]companions.

⁹ Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down ^[i]because of Gedaliah, it was the ^(AZ)one that King Asa had made on ^(BA)account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the ^(BB)remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the ^(BC)king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, over whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and went to cross over to the sons of ^(BD)Ammon.

Johanan Rescues the People

¹¹ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^(BE)commanders of the military forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. ¹² So they took all the men and went to ^(BF)fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the ^(BG)great ^[j]pool that is in Gibeon. ¹³ Now it happened as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that were with him, they were glad. ¹⁴ So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah ^(BH)escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶ Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the military forces that were with him took from Mizpah ^(BI)all the remnant of the people whom he had returned from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the mighty men who were men of war, the women, the little ones, and the eunuchs, whom he had returned from Gibeon. ¹⁷ And they went and stayed in ^[k](BJ)Geruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to ^(BK)proceed into Egypt ¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans; for they were ^(BL)afraid of them, since Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom ^(BM)the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray

42 Then all the ^[l]commanders of the military forces, ^(BN)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(BO)both small and great approached ² and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our ^(BP)supplication ^[m]come before you, and ^(BQ)pray for us to Yahweh your God, that is for all this remnant, because we remain but a ^(BR)few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, ³ that Yahweh your God may tell us the ^(BS)way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” ⁴ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ^(BT)pray to Yahweh your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ^[n]message which ^(BU)Yahweh will answer you. I will ^(BV)not keep back a word from you.” ⁵ And they said to Jeremiah, “May ^(BW)Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ^[o]message with which Yahweh your God will send you to us. ⁶ Whether it is good or bad, we will ^(BX)listen to the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, so that good ^(BY)may come to us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

⁷ Now it happened that at the ^(BZ)end of ten days the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. ⁸ Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^[p]commanders of the military forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, ⁹ and said to them, “Thus ^(CA)says Yahweh the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: ¹⁰ ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^(CB)build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I have ^[q](CC)relented of the calamity that I have done against you. ^11 (CD)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for ^(CE)I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. ¹² I will also show you compassion, so that ^(CF)he will have compassion on you and return you to your own soil. ¹³ But if you are going to say, “We will ^(CG)not stay in this land,” so as not to listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, ¹⁴ saying, “No, but we will ^(CH)go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or ^(CI)hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there,” ¹⁵ then now, listen to the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “If you really set your face to enter ^(CJ)Egypt, and you will enter to sojourn there, ¹⁶ then the ^(CK)sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will ^[r]follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. ¹⁷ So all the men who set their face to go to Egypt to sojourn there will die by the ^(CL)sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and they will ^(CM)have no survivors or any who escaped from the calamity that I am going to bring on them.”’”

¹⁸ For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My ^(CN)anger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a ^(CO)curse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a reproach; and ^(CP)you will see this place no more.” ¹⁹ Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not ^(CQ)go into Egypt!” You should clearly ^(CR)know that today I have ^(CS)testified against you. ²⁰ For you have only ^[s](CT)led yourselves astray; for it is you who sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, “Pray for us to Yahweh our God; and according to all that Yahweh our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” ²¹ So I have ^(CU)told you today, but you have ^(CV)not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, even according to all that He has sent me to tell you. ²² So now, you should clearly know that you will ^(CW)die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the ^(CX)place where you desire to go to sojourn.

The Believer’s Rest

4 Therefore, let us fear, lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have ^(A)fallen short of it. ² For indeed we have had good news proclaimed to us, just as they also; but ^(B)the word ^[a]that was heard did not profit those ^[b]who were not united with faith among those who heard. ³ For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

although His works were finished ^(D)from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has spoken ^(E)somewhere in this way concerning the seventh day: “^(F)And God ^(G)rested on the seventh day from all His works”; ⁵ and again in this passage, “^(H)They shall not enter My rest.” ⁶ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news proclaimed to them failed to enter because of ^(I)disobedience, ⁷ He again determines a certain day, “Today,” saying ^[c]through David after so long a time just ^(J)as has been said before,

⁸ For ^(L)if ^[d]Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. ⁹ So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also ^(M)rested from his works, as ^(N)God did from His. ¹¹ Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall into the same ^(O)example of ^(P)disobedience. ¹² For ^(Q)the word of God is ^(R)living and ^(S)active and sharper than any two-edged ^(T)sword, and piercing as far as the division of ^(U)soul and ^(V)spirit, of both joints and marrow, and ^(W)able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And ^(X)there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are ^[e](Y)uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.

Jesus Our Great High Priest

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great ^(Z)high priest who has ^(AA)passed through the heavens, Jesus ^(AB)the Son of God, let us take hold of our ^(AC)confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have ^(AD)a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been ^(AE)tempted in all things like we are, yet ^(AF)without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let us ^(AG)draw near with ^(AH)confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.