The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 41 The Assassination of Gedaliah

 The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 41

The Assassination of Gedaliah

1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of royal blood, and the king's captains, namely, ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.

2 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah rose up with the ten men who were with him, and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword; thus killing him whom the king of Babylon had set over the land.

3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him and Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldeans, the men of war, who were there.

4 Now it came to pass the next day, after he had killed Gedaliah, without anyone knowing,

5 That men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men, with shaved beards, and their clothes torn, and dressed in sackcloth; and they brought offerings of food and incense in their hands, to take to the house of the Lord.

6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, weeping as he went; and it happened that, when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.”

7 But it happened that, when they went into the midst of the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and threw them into a pit, he and the men who were with him.

8 But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us; for we have hidden treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey.” And so he spared them, and did not kill them as he had killed their brothers.

9 Now the well into which Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of the men whom he had struck down because of Gedaliah is the same well that King Asa made because of Baasha, king of Israel; it was the same well into which Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled with the dead.

10 Ishmael carried away captive all the remnant 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 entrusted to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam; and Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, carried them away captive; and he went to pass over to the Ammonites.

11 When Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done.

12 They took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the abundant waters of Gibeon.

13 When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army who were with him, they rejoiced.

14 All the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned back and went to Johanan son of Kareah.

15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men from Johanan and went to the Ammonites. 

16 Then Johanan son of Kareah took all the army commanders who were with him, and all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah at Mizpah, after Gedaliah son of Ahikam had been defeated, and the mighty warriors, the women, the children, and the eunuchs whom he had recovered from Gibeon,

17 and they set out and went to live in Geruth-Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, to go from there to Egypt,

18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had defeated Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had set over the land.