Study Desk

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after ^(C1)Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had released him from ^(C2)Ramah, when he had taken him bound in ^(C3)chains among all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

Now the captain of the bodyguard had taken Jeremiah and said to him, "The ^(C1)LORD your God promised this disaster against this place;

and the LORD has brought it and done just as He promised. Because you people ^(C1)sinned against the LORD and did not listen to His voice, this thing has happened to you.

"But now, behold, I am ^(C1)setting you free today from the chains that are on your hands. If ^(F1)you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will ^(F2)look after you; but if ^(F3)you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, ^(F4)do not come. Look, the ^(C2)whole land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right for you to go."

As ^(F1)Jeremiah was still not going back, ^(F2)he said, "Go on back then to ^(C1)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has ^(C2)appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people; or else go anywhere it seems right for you to go." So the captain of the bodyguard gave him a ^(C3)ration and a ^(C4)gift, and let him go.

Then Jeremiah went to ^(C1)Mizpah to ^(C2)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.

^(C1)Now all the commanders of the forces that were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam over the land, and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and ^(F1)children, those of the ^(C2)poorest of the land who had not been exiled to Babylon.

So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with ^(C1)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, ^(C2)Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the ^(C3)Netophathite, and ^(C4)Jezaniah the son of the ^(C5)Maacathite, both they and their men.

Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ^(C1)swore to them and to their men, saying, "^(C2)Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, so that it may go well for you.

"Now as for me, behold, I am going to stay in Mizpah to ^(C1)stand for you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, ^(C2)gather wine, ^(C3)summer fruit, and oil, and put them in your storage vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken over."

Likewise, also all the Jews who were in ^(C1)Moab and among the sons of ^(C2)Ammon and in ^(C3)Edom, and who were in all the other countries, heard that the king of Babylon had ^(F1)left a remnant for Judah, and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

Then all the Jews ^(C1)returned from all the places to which they had been scattered and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah,

and said to him, "Are you well aware that Baalis the king of the sons of ^(C1)Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, "^(C1)Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know! Why should he ^(C2)take your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the ^(C3)remnant of Judah would perish?"

But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "^(C1)Do not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael."

^(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.

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the ^(C1)commanders of the forces that were with him heard about all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done.

So they took all the men and went to ^(C1)fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and they found him by the ^(C2)large ^(F1)pool that is in Gibeon.

Now as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, they were joyful.

So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.

But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah ^(C1)escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the sons of Ammon.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah ^(C1)all the remnant of the people whom he had ^(F1)recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the men who were ^(F2)soldiers, the women, the ^(F3)children, and the high officials, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.

And they went and stayed in ^(F1)(C1)Geruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to ^(C2)proceed into Egypt

because of the Chaldeans; for they were ^(C1)afraid of them, since Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom ^(C2)the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

Then all the commanders of the forces, ^(C1)Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people ^(C2)from the small to the great approached

and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our ^(C1)pleading ^(F1)come before you, and ^(C2)pray for us to the LORD your God for all this remnant—since we have been left only a ^(C3)few out of many, just as your own eyes now see us—

that the LORD your God will tell us the ^(C1)way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do."

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I am going to ^(C1)pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole ^(F1)message which the ^(C2)LORD gives you as an answer. I will ^(C3)not withhold a word from you."

Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the ^(C1)LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole ^(F1)message with which the LORD your God will send you to us.

"Whether it is ^(F1)pleasant or ^(F2)unpleasant, we will ^(C1)listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go ^(C2)well for us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God."

Now at the ^(C1)end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people from the small to the great,

and said to them, "This is what the LORD ^(C1)says, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before Him:

'If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will ^(C1)build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I ^(F1)will ^(C2)relent of the disaster that I have inflicted on you.

'^(C1)Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,' declares the LORD, 'for ^(C2)I am with you to save you and rescue you from his hand.

'I will also show you compassion, so that ^(C1)he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil.

'But if you are going to say, "We will ^(C1)not stay in this land," so as not to listen to the voice of the LORD your God,

saying, "No, but we will ^(C1)go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war, or ^(C2)hear the sound of a trumpet, or hunger for bread, and we will stay there";

then ^(F1)in that case listen to the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "If you really set your ^(F2)minds to enter ^(C1)Egypt and go in to reside there,

then the ^(C1)sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there.

"So all the people who set their ^(F1)minds to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the ^(C1)sword, by famine, or by plague; and they will ^(C2)have no refugees or survivors from the disaster that I am going to bring on them."'"

For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "As My ^(C1)anger and wrath have gushed out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will gush out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a ^(C2)curse, an object of horror, ^(F1)an imprecation, and a disgrace; and ^(C3)you will not see this place again."

The LORD has spoken to you, you remnant of Judah, "Do not ^(C1)go to Egypt!" You ^(C2)know for certain that I have ^(C3)admonished you today.

For you have only ^(F1)(C1)deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the LORD your God, saying, "Pray for us to the LORD our God; and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us so, and we will do it."

So I have ^(C1)told you today, but you have ^(C2)not ^(F1)obeyed the LORD your God in whatever He has sent me to tell you.

And now you shall know for certain that you will ^(C1)die by the sword, by famine, or by plague in the ^(C2)place where you desire to go to reside.