Jeremiah 40

Revised Geneva Translation

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.”