Jeremiah 41-42

Common English Bible

Mutiny and murder

41 In the seventh month,^[a] Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son and Elishama’s grandson, who was from a royal family and who was one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, at Mizpah. While they were eating a meal together, ² Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, and the ten men got up and struck down Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son and Shaphan’s grandson, with the sword. They murdered him because he had been appointed over the region by the king of Babylon. ³ Ishmael also murdered all the Judeans who had rallied around Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were posted there.

⁴ The day after Gedaliah was killed, before anyone knew of it, ⁵ eighty men with shaved beards, torn clothes, and gashed bodies arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They were bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the Lord’s temple. ⁶ Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son!” ⁷ When they arrived in the middle of the town, Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, and the men with him slaughtered them and threw their bodies^[b] into a cistern.

⁸ But there were ten men among them who begged Ishmael, “Don’t kill us; we have wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in a field.” So he stopped and didn’t kill them along with the rest.

(⁹ Now the cistern that Ishmael used to discard the bodies of the men he had killed because of their association with Gedaliah^[c] was the one that King Asa had made to defend against Israel’s King Baasha. Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, filled it with the dead.)

¹⁰ Ishmael captured the rest of the people who were at Mizpah, including the daughters of the king and all those assigned to Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, at Mizpah by Nebuzaradan the captain of the special guard. Then Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, set out to cross over to the Ammonites with the hostages.

¹¹ Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers at his side heard of the terrible acts committed by Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son. ¹² So they mustered all their forces and went to fight him. They found Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, at the great pool in Gibeon. ¹³ When all those taken by Ishmael at Mizpah saw Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all his army officers with him, they were delighted. ¹⁴ They rallied around Johanan, Kareah’s son, and returned home with him. ¹⁵ But Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, and eight of his men eluded Johanan and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶ Then Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers with him took the small group they had rescued in Gibeon, including the soldiers, women, children, and commanding officers that Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, had captured at Mizpah after killing Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son. ¹⁷ They set out for Egypt, stopping on the way at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, ¹⁸ because they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they found out that Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, had killed Gedaliah, Ahikam’s son, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the region.

Don’t go to Egypt!

42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan, Kareah’s son, and Jezaniah, Hoshaiah’s son, and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, approached ² Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “We have something to ask you: Please pray to the Lord your God for us, this small group, for as you can see we were once many but now are very few. ³ May the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴ The prophet Jeremiah replied, “Yes, I’ll pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. And I’ll tell you whatever the Lord says; I won’t hide anything from you.”

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do everything that the Lord your God tells us through you. ⁶ Whether we like it or not, we will obey all that the Lord our God says. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we’re sending you, so it may go well for us.”

⁷ Ten days later Jeremiah received the Lord’s word. ⁸ So he called Johanan, Kareah’s son, and all the army officers with him and the rest of the people, from the least to the greatest, ⁹ and he said to them: You have sent me to present your plea to the Lord, and this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ¹⁰ If you live in this land, I will build you up and not pull you down. I will plant you and not dig you up because I grieve over the disaster I have brought upon you. ¹¹ You don’t have to be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore, declares the Lord, for I will be with you to save you and rescue you from his hand. ¹² I will be merciful to you, and he will be merciful and return you to your land.

¹³ But if you say, “We won’t live in this land,” you will disobey the Lord your God. ¹⁴ And if you insist, “No, we’re going to live in Egypt, where there’s no war, battle alarms, or hunger, and there we will stay,” ¹⁵ then listen to the Lord’s word, you remaining Judeans. The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you are determined to go to Egypt and you then go and live there, ¹⁶ then the war you fear will seize you in the land of Egypt; and the famine you dread will hunt you down in Egypt, and there you will die. ¹⁷ Every one of you who is determined to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword, famine, and disease. No one will escape the disaster that I will bring upon them there.

¹⁸ The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Just as my fierce anger was poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so it will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing, scorn, shock, and disgrace. And you will never see this place again. ¹⁹ You who survive from Judah, the Lord has told you: Don’t go to Egypt. Know without a doubt that I have warned you this day. ²⁰ You are putting your lives at risk^[d] by sending me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we’ll do it.” ²¹ Today I have told you, but you still haven’t obeyed all that the Lord your God has sent me to tell you. ²² So know without a doubt that you will die by war, famine, and disease in the place you yearn to go and live.