Jeremiah 39-41

Revised Geneva Translation

39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, and all his army against Jerusalem. And they besieged it.

² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was breached.

³ And all the princes of the king of Babel came in and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babel.

⁴ And when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled and went out of the city by night, through the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went toward the wilderness.

⁵ But the Chaldean’s army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the desert of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.

⁶ Then the king of Babel killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Also, the king of Babel killed all the nobles of Judah.

⁷ Moreover, he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in chains, to carry him to Babel.

⁸ And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹ Then Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, carried away captive into Babel the remnant of the people who remained in the city, and those who had fled and fallen to him, with the rest of the people who remained.

¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, left the poor who had nothing in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at that same time.

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, gave orders concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, saying,

¹² “Take him and look after him and do him no harm. But do to him just as he shall say to you.”

¹³ So Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezar, Rabmag, and all the king of Babel’s princes.

¹⁴ Then they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, so that he would carry him home. So he dwelt among the people.

¹⁵ Now the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was detained in the court of the prison, saying,

¹⁶ “Go and speak to Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring My Words upon this city for misery, and not for prosperity. And they shall be accomplished before you on that day.

¹⁷ “But I will deliver you on that day,” says the LORD, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men whom you fear.

¹⁸ “For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword. But your life shall be as a prize for you because you have put your trust in Me,” says the LORD.’”

40 The Word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, had let him go from Ramah when he had taken him, bound in chains, among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, and were carried away captive to Babel.

² And the chief steward took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God has pronounced this plague upon this place.

³ “Now the LORD has brought it and done as He has said. Because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed His Voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.

⁴ “And now, behold, I free you this day from the chains which were on your hands. If it pleases you to come with me to Babel, come. And I will look after you well. But if it pleases you not to come with me to Babel, stay here. Behold, all the land is before you. Wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”

⁵ Still, Jeremiah did not return. Therefore, the chief steward said, “Return to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babel has made governor over all the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it pleases you to go.” So, the chief steward gave him rations and a reward and let him go.

⁶ Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah and dwelt there with him among the people who were left in the land.

⁷ Now when all the captains of the army who were in the fields, both they and their men, heard that the king of Babel had made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, governor in the land, and that he had committed to him men and women and children and of the poor of the land who were not carried away captive to Babel,

⁸ then they came to Gedaliah, to Mizpah—Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, Johanan, Jonathan, the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of Maachathi—both they and their men.

⁹ And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babel, and it shall be well with you.

¹⁰ “As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to serve the Chaldeans who will come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”

¹¹ Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babel had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,

¹² then all the Jews returned from all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered much wine and summer fruits.

¹³ Moreover, Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah, to Mizpah,

¹⁴ and said to him, “Do you not know that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, 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, spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, “Please let me go, and I will kill Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. And no one shall know it. Why should he kill you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, said to Johanan, the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing. For you speak falsely about Ishmael.”

41 But in the seventh month came Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and the princes of the king, and ten men with him, to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah. And they ate bread together there, in Mizpah.

² Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, arose with these ten men who were with him and struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babel had made governor over the land.

³ Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and all the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

⁴ Now, the second day after he had killed Gedaliah (though no one knew it),

⁵ 80 men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes ripped and cut, with offerings and incense in their hands, to offer in the House of the LORD.

⁶ And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. And when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.”

⁷ And when they came into the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and the men who were with him.

⁸ But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. For we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey.” So he refrained, and did not kill them along with their brethren.

⁹ Now the pit in which Ishmael had cast the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed because of Gedaliah is the same one which Asa the king had made because of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled it with those who were killed.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, had committed to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites.

¹¹ But when Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done,

¹² then they all took men and went to fight with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.

¹³ Now, when all the people whom Ishmael carried away captive saw Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, they were glad.

¹⁴ So, all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah, turned around and came back and went to Johanan, the son of Kareah.

¹⁵ But Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶ Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the army who were with him, took the whole remnant of the people whom Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had carried away captive from Mizpah (after he had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam), the strong men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs whom he had brought back from Gibeon.

¹⁷ And they departed and dwelt in Geruth, Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, on the way to Egypt,

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babel made governor in the land.