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New Testament
Jeremiah 40-43
Jeremiah Is Set Free
401The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had released him at Ramah. Jeremiah had been captured and bound in chains with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile in Babylon. 2When the captain of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, “The Lord your God pronounced this disaster on this place, 3and the Lord has brought it about and has done what he said he would do. This took place because you people[] sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. 4But now, today, I am removing the chains from your wrists. If you wish, come with me to Babylon. I will take care of you. But if this does not seem good to you, then don't come. The whole land is before you. If there is a place that seems good and right to you, go there.” 5But before Jeremiah turned away, he added, “Or you can go to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. The king of Babylon has made him governor over the cities of Judah. You can live with him among the people. Go wherever it seems right for you to go.”
Then the commander of the guard gave him a gift and some food and released him. 6Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who had been left behind in the land.
Gedaliah Is Assassinated
7All the army officers who were still in the field and all their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to be governor of the land, and that he had given him authority over the men, women, children, and over the poorest people of the land—those who were not carried away into exile in Babylon. 8They and their men went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Ja'azaniah[] the son of the Ma'acathite. 9Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath in the presence of them and their men. He said, “Do not be afraid of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. 10As for me, I will certainly stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, store up wine, summer fruit, and oil, put it into your jars, and live in the towns you have taken over.”
11When all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah, and that he had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them, 12all those Jews returned from all the places they had been scattered. They returned to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. There they stored up a large amount of wine and summer fruit.
13Then Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were still in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to assassinate you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “I urge you, let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know. Why should he assassinate you and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”
16But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do this! What you are saying about Ishmael is false.”
411In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating a meal together there, 2Ishmael son of Nethaniah got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with a sword, killing the man the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land. 3Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and also the Chaldean soldiers they found there.
4The next day, the day after Gedaliah was assassinated, before anyone knew about it, 5men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria—eighty men in all—with their beards shaved, their clothing torn, and their bodies gashed.[] They came bringing grain offerings and incense to the House of the Lord. 6Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” 7When they got to the middle of the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him began to kill them, throwing their bodies into a cistern. 8But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don't kill us! We have food hidden in the countryside: wheat, barley, oil, and honey!”
So he stopped and did not murder them along with the others. 9Now the cistern into which Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of the murdered men was a large one,[] that had been built by King Asa to defend against Ba'asha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the murdered men.
10Then Ishmael made prisoners of all the people who were left in Mizpah, including the king's daughters and the others who were left there in Mizpah—people whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had placed under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them as prisoners and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
11But when Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him heard about all the crimes that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed, 12they took all of their men and went to attack Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him by the great pool at Gibeon. 13When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him, they were glad. 14All of the people whom Ishmael had taken prisoner turned back and went to Johanan son of Kareah. 15But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and went over to the Ammonites.
16Then Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers with him took all the survivors from Mizpah, whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the soldiers, the women, the children, and the court officials that Johanan had brought back from Gibeon. 17They left there and stayed at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem. They were on the way to Egypt 18because they were afraid of the Chaldeans, since Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.
The People Ask Jeremiah to Pray for Them
421Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah. 2They said to him, “Please hear our request and pray for us to the Lord your God, for this group of survivors. As you can see, only a few of us are left, though once there were many. 3Pray that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go and what we should do.”
4Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Certainly, I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you whatever the Lord answers. I will keep nothing back from you.”
5Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do everything the Lord your God directs you to tell us. 6Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, of whom you are inquiring for us. May it go well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
7Ten days later, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8He called Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, and all of the people from the least to the greatest, 9and reported this to them:
The Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your request, says this: 10If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieving over the disaster I brought upon you. 11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12I will be merciful to you so that he will be merciful to you and will send you back to your own land.
13But if you say, “We will not remain in this land,” and if you disobey the voice of the Lord your God, 14and if you say, “No, we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, hear no battle signal from the ram's horn, and experience no hunger for bread, and we will live there,” 15then hear the word of the Lord, you survivors from Judah. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. If you are determined to go and live in Egypt, 16then the sword you fear will overtake you in Egypt, the famine you dread will follow you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 17This is what will happen to everyone who is determined to go into Egypt. All of them will die by the sword, famine, and plague. None of them will survive or escape from the disaster I am going to bring on them. 18This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. As my anger and my wrath have been poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of horror and derision, an object of cursing and ridicule. You will never see this place again.
19This is what the Lord says concerning you, you remaining survivors from Judah: Do not go to Egypt. You can be certain about this. I am warning you today 20that you have put your own souls[] in danger by sending me to the Lord your God and saying, “Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything the Lord our God says, and we will do it.” 21I have told you this today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything he sent me to tell you. 22Therefore, be certain about this. You will die by the sword, famine, and plague in the place where you want to go and live.
Jeremiah Is Taken to Egypt
431When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God (everything the Lord had sent him to tell them), 2Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying. The Lord our God did not send you to tell us, ‘Do not go to Egypt to settle there.’ 3Baruch son of Neriah has turned you against us, in order to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so that they may kill us or carry us away to Babylon as captives.”
4So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers disobeyed the voice of the Lord, who was commanding them to remain in the land of Judah. 5Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers took away everyone who remained in Judah, everyone who had returned to live in the land of Judah from the nations where they had been driven: 6the men, women, and children, the king's daughters, and everyone else that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7They entered the land of Egypt, disobeying the voice of the Lord, and they went as far as Tahpanhes.
8In Tahpanhes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, 9“Take some large stones in your hand while the men of Judah are watching and bury them in the mudbrick pavement at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace at Tahpanhes. 10Tell them that this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says. Be sure of this. I will send for my servant, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I[] will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those doomed to death, captivity to those doomed to captivity, and the sword to those doomed to the sword. 12I[] will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them or carry them away to captivity. He will wrap Egypt around himself as a shepherd wraps a cloak around himself.[] Then he will go away in peace. 13He will smash the sacred obelisks in the temple of the sun[] in the land of Egypt and he will burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”
Footnotes
- 40:3 The translation you people is used to indicate that the pronoun is plural.
- 40:8 Hebrew Jezaniah, another form of Ja'azaniah
- 41:5 All these actions were signs of mourning.
- 41:9 The translation was a large one follows the Greek reading. The Hebrew reading by the hand of Gedaliah does not seem to fit the context.
- 42:20 Or lives
- 43:10 Hebrew I; some ancient translations read you.
- 43:12 Hebrew I; some ancient translations read he.
- 43:12 Or he will pick Egypt clean as a shepherd picks lice from his clothing
- 43:13 Or in Heliopolis, the city of the sun