Old/New Testament
Jeremiah Free to Go
40 This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, captain of the prison soldiers, had let him go from Ramah. He had taken him there in chains with all the other people of Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon. 2 The captain of the prison soldiers took Jeremiah and said to him, “The Lord your God promised this trouble against this place. 3 The Lord has brought it about, and has done just as He promised. This thing has happened to you because you people sinned against the Lord and did not listen to Him. 4 But now I am setting you free today from the chains on your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will see that it goes well with you. But if you do not want to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you. Go where you think it is good and right for you to go. 5 If you stay, then go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has set over the cities of Judah. Stay with him among the people. Or go where you think it is right to go.” Then the captain of the prison soldiers gave him a share of food and a gift, and let him go. 6 So Jeremiah went to Mizpah, to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And he stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.
Gedaliah Is Ruler of Judah
7 Now all the captains of the armies that were in the field and their men heard that the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to rule over the land. The king had put him over the men, women and children who were the poorest of the land and had not been taken to Babylon. 8 So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. With them were Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, together with their men. 9 Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, made a promise to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid of serving the Babylonians. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon. Then it will go well with you. 10 As for me, I will stay at Mizpah to stand for you in front of the Babylonians who come to us. But as for you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and store them in your jars. And live in your cities that you have taken.” 11 All the Jews in Moab and Ammon and Edom, and in all the other countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left some of the people in Judah. They heard that he had chosen Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to rule over them. 12 Then all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered much wine and summer fruit.
Gedaliah Is Killed
13 Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 14 They said to him, “Do you know that Baalis, the king of the sons of Ammon, 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 said in secret to Gedaliah in Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know about it. Why should he kill you? Then all the Jews who are gathered to you would go everywhere. And those of Judah who are left here would die.” 16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “Do not do this. For you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”
41 In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the king’s family, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah. He came with one of the head captains of the king, and ten other men. While they were eating bread together there in Mizpah, 2 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him rose up and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword. They killed the one whom the king of Babylon had chosen to rule the land. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Babylonian soldiers who were found there.
4 The next day, before anyone knew that Gedaliah had been killed, 5 eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria. Their hair was cut from their faces, their clothes were torn, and their bodies were cut. They came with grain gifts and special perfume in their hands to bring to the house of the Lord. 6 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, crying as he went. As he met them he said, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” 7 When they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him killed them, and threw them into the well. 8 But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us! For we have stores of grain, barley, oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he did not kill them with their friends.
9 The well where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he had killed because of Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made because of his fear of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael the son the Nethaniah filled it with the dead. 10 Then he put all the rest of the Jews in chains who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the prison soldiers, had put under the rule of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them and started to cross over to the sons of Ammon.
11 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the armies that were with him, heard about all the bad things that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. 12 So they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They found him by the large pool in Gibeon. 13 When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and the captains of the armies with him, they were glad. 14 So all the people Ishmael had taken from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got away from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies that were with him took all the rest of the people whom Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had taken away from Mizpah after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. They took the soldiers, the women, the children, and the servants, whom Johanan had brought back from Gibeon, 17 and they went and stayed in GeruthChimham near Bethlehem. They were on their way to Egypt 18 because of the Babylonians. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had chosen to rule the land.
The People Want to Go to Egypt
42 Then all the captains of the armies, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people both small and great, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the man of God, “Hear what we ask of you. Pray to the Lord your God for us, for all these people who are left. As you see, only a few of us are left out of many. 3 Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go and what we should do.” 4 Then Jeremiah the man of God said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to the Lord your God as you ask. And I will tell you the whole answer that the Lord gives. I will not keep anything from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be true and faithful to speak against us if we do not do all that the Lord your God tells you we must do. 6 If it is good or bad, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to Whom we are sending you. It will go well with us if we listen to the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 At the end of ten days the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the armies that were with him, and for all the people both small and great. 9 And he said to them, “This is what the Lord the God of Israel says, to Whom you sent me to bring Him what you asked for: 10 ‘If you will stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up by the roots. For I will change My mind about the trouble that I have given you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, who now fills you with fear. Do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord. ‘For I am with you to save you and take you from his hands. 12 I will show you loving-pity, so that he will have pity on you and let you stay in your own land. 13 But if you say, “We will not stay in this land,” and will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, 14 and if you say, “No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of a horn or be hungry for bread, and we will stay there,” 15 then listen to the Word of the Lord, O you who are left of Judah. This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: “If you set your mind to go into Egypt, and go to live there, 16 then the sword which you are afraid of will come to you there in the land of Egypt. The hunger you are worried about will follow after you there in Egypt. And there you will die. 17 So all the men who set their mind to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword and hunger and disease. They will have no one left alive and no one who will get away from the trouble that I will bring to them.’”
18 “For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘As My anger has been poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so My anger will be poured out on you when you go into Egypt. You will become a curse, and object of hate. People will say bad things against you. You will be put to shame. And you will never see this place again.’ 19 O people who are left of Judah, the Lord has said to you, ‘Do not go into Egypt!’ Know for sure that I have told you of the danger today. 20 You have fooled yourselves. You sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us. Whatever the Lord our God says, tell us and we will do it.’ 21 So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God in anything that He told me to tell you. 22 So now be sure and know that you will die by the sword and hunger and disease, in the place where you want to go to live.”
The Christian’s Rest
4 The same promise of going into God’s rest is still for us. But we should be afraid that some of us may not be able to go in. 2 We have heard the Good News even as they did, but it did them no good because it was not mixed with faith. 3 We who have put our trust in God go into His rest. God said this of our early fathers, “I was angry and said, ‘They will not go into My rest.’”(A) And yet God’s work was finished after He made the world.
God’s Rest
4 In the Holy Writings He said this about the seventh day when He made the whole world, “God rested on the seventh day from all He had made.” (B) 5 But God said this about those who turned against Him, “They will not go into My rest.” (C) 6 Those who heard the Good News first did not go into His rest. It was because they had not obeyed Him. But the promise is still good and some are going into His rest. 7 God has again set a certain day for people to go into His rest. He says through David many years later as He had said before, “If you hear His voice today, do not let your hearts become hard.” (D)
8 If Joshua had led those people into God’s rest, He would not have told of another day after that. 9 And so God’s people have a complete rest waiting for them. 10 The man who goes into God’s rest, rests from his own work the same as God rested from His work. 11 Let us do our best to go into that rest or we will be like the people who did not go in.
12 God’s Word is living and powerful. It is sharper than a sword that cuts both ways. It cuts straight into where the soul and spirit meet and it divides them. It cuts into the joints and bones. It tells what the heart is thinking about and what it wants to do. 13 No one can hide from God. His eyes see everything we do. We must give an answer to God for what we have done.
Jesus—Our Great Religious Leader
14 We have a great Religious Leader Who has made the way for man to go to God. He is Jesus, the Son of God, Who has gone to heaven to be with God. Let us keep our trust in Jesus Christ. 15 Our Religious Leader understands how weak we are. Christ was tempted in every way we are tempted, but He did not sin. 16 Let us go with complete trust to the throne of God. We will receive His loving-kindness and have His loving-favor to help us whenever we need it.
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