Insurrection Against Gedaliah
41 Now it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the
son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and of the officers
of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And
there they ate bread together in Mizpah. 2 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
and the ten men who were with him, arose and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam,
the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had
made governor over the land. 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were
with him, that is, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found
there, the men of war.
4 And it happened, on the second day after he had killed
Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it, 5 that certain men came from Shechem,
from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaved and their
clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand,
to bring them to the house of the Lord. 6 Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went
out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he
met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” 7 So it
was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a 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 of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field.”
So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. 9 Now the pit into
which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain,
because of Gedaliah, was the same one Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha
king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 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 captain of the guard 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 forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah had done, 12 they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the
son of Nethaniah; and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon. 13 So
it was, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of
Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, that they were
glad. 14 Then 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 forces that were with him, took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom
he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—the mighty 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 the habitation of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, as they went on
their way to Egypt, 18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them,
because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam,
whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.
The Flight to Egypt Forbidden
42 Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of
Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the
greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please, let our
petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all
this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see), 3 that the
Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we
should do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard.
Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall
be, that whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep
nothing back from you.”
5 So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the Lord be a true and
faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the
Lord your God sends us by you. 6 Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will
obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, that it may be well
with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7 And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains
of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to
the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to
whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: 10 ‘If you will still
remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will
plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I
have brought upon you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you
are afraid; do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘for I am with you, to
save you and deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will show you mercy, that he
may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.’
13 “But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’
disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, 14 saying, ‘No, but we will go to
the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet,
nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’— 15 Then hear now the word of
the Lord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, 16 then it
shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land
of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you
there in Egypt; and there you shall die. 17 So shall it be with all the men who
set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by
famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the
disaster that I will bring upon them.’
18 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As
My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so
will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an
oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no
more.’
19 “The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah,
‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20
For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God,
saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord
your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’ 21 And I have this day
declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or
anything which He has sent you by me. 22 Now therefore, know certainly that you
shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you
desire to go to dwell.”
Jeremiah Taken to Egypt
43 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had stopped speaking to
all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their
God had sent him to them, all these words, 2 that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah,
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah,
“You speak falsely! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to
Egypt to dwell there.’ 3 But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to
deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or
carry us away captive to Babylon.” 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, all the
captains of the forces, and all the people would not obey the voice of the
Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all
the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to
dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven— 6 men,
women, children, the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of
Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 So they went
to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they went
as far as Tahpanhes.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes,
saying, 9 “Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the
men of Judah, in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to
Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes; 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel: “Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have
hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them. 11 When he comes, he
shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed for death,
and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those
appointed for the sword. 12 I[a] will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods
of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall
array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he
shall go out from there in peace. 13 He shall also break the sacred pillars of
Beth Shemesh[b] that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of
the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.”’”
Israelites Will Be Punished in Egypt
44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews
who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph,[c]
and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel: ‘You have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and
on all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no
one dwells in them, 3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to
provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods
whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers. 4 However I have sent to
you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh,
do not do this abominable thing that I hate!” 5 But they did not listen or
incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other
gods. 6 So My fury and My anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it
is this day.’
7 “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the
God of Israel: ‘Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut
off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving none to
remain, 8 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning
incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to dwell, that
you may cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations
of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the
wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own
wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not been humbled, to
this day, nor have they feared; they have not walked in My law or in My
statutes that I set before you and your fathers.’
11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel: ‘Behold, I will set My face against you for catastrophe and for cutting
off all Judah. 12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces
to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and
fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine.
They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and
they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach! 13 For I will
punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the
sword, by famine, and by pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah
who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive,
lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and
dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.’”
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned
incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and
all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah,
saying: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord,
we will not listen to you! 17 But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of
our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink
offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our
princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we
had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. 18 But since we stopped
burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her,
we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
19 The women also said, “And when we burned incense to the
queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for
her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’
permission?”
20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women,
and all the people who had given him that answer—saying: 21 “The incense that
you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your
fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the
Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind? 22 So the Lord could no
longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the
abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an
astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 Because
you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have
not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in
His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.”
24 Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the
women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! 25
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives
have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will
surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven
and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and
perform your vows!’ 26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell
in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord,
‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all
the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” 27 Behold, I will watch over
them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the
land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an
end to them. 28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the
land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone
to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or
theirs. 29 And this shall be a sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will punish
you in this place, that you may know that My words will surely stand against
you for adversity.’
30 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra
king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek
his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’”
Assurance to Baruch
45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the
son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the instruction of
Jeremiah,[d] in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 ‘You
said, “Woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in
my sighing, and I find no rest.”’
4 “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold,
what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up,
that is, this whole land. 5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not
seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord.
“But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”’”
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