Study Desk

^(C1)Now in the seventh month ^(C2)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal ^(F1)family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to ^(C3)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they ^(C4)were eating bread together there in Mizpah,

Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him rose up, and ^(C1)struck and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and ^(C2)put to death the one ^(C3)whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

Ishmael also struck and killed all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

Now it happened on the ^(F1)next day after the killing of Gedaliah, when no one knew about it,

that eighty men ^(C1)came from ^(C2)Shechem, from ^(C3)Shiloh, and from ^(C4)Samaria with ^(C5)their beards shaved off, their clothes torn, and ^(F1)their bodies ^(C6)gashed, having grain offerings and incense in their hands to bring to the ^(C7)house of the LORD.

Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah left Mizpah to meet them, ^(C1)weeping as he went; and as he met them, he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!"

Yet it turned out that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him ^(C1)slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern.

But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, "Do not put us to death, for we have ^(C1)supplies of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field." So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their companions.

Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck and killed ^(F1)because of Gedaliah, it was the ^(C1)one that King Asa had constructed on ^(C2)account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead.

Then Ishmael took captive all the ^(C1)remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the ^(C2)king's daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put in the custody of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of ^(C3)Ammon.