2Ki 25:25, Jer 41-44, 52:30 | ESV | STEP | But in the seventh month , Ishmael the son of Nethaniah , son of Elishama , of the royal family , came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and put him to death along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah .

25 ^aBut in the seventh month, ^bIshmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and put him to death along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

Jeremiah 41

Gedaliah Murdered

1 ^cIn the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at ^dMizpah. As they ^eate bread together there at Mizpah, 2 ^fIshmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, ^gwhom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at ^hMizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.

4 On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, 5 eighty men arrived from ⁱShechem and ^jShiloh and ^kSamaria, with ^ltheir beards shaved and ^mtheir clothes torn, and ⁿtheir bodies gashed, ^obringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. 6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from ^pMizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” 7 When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. 8 But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have ^qstores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.

9 Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with ^{▼▼Hebrew by the hand of} Gedaliah was the large cistern that ^sKing Asa had made for defense against ^tBaasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, ^uthe king’s daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom ^vNebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to ^wthe Ammonites.

11 But when ^xJohanan the son of Kareah and ^yall the leaders of the forces 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 the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at ^zthe great pool that is in ^aaGibeon. 13 And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and ^aball the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. 14 ^acSo 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 ^adthe Ammonites. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and ^aeall the leaders of the forces with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—soldiers, ^afwomen, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from ^agGibeon. 17 And they went and stayed at Geruth ^ahChimham near ^aiBethlehem, intending to go to Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, ^ajwhom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Jeremiah 42

Warning Against Going to Egypt

1 Then ^akall the commanders of the forces, and ^alJohanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of ^amHoshaiah, and all the people ^anfrom the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let ^aoour plea for mercy come before you, and ^appray to the Lord your God for us, for all ^aqthis remnant— ^arbecause we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— 3 that ^asthe Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” 4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and ^atwhatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. ^auI will keep nothing back from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, ^av“May the Lord be a true and ^awfaithful witness against us ^axif we do not act according to all the word ^aywith which the Lord your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, ^azthat it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

7 ^baAt the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned ^bbJohanan the son of Kareah and ^bcall the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people ^bdfrom the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^beto whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, ^bfthen I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; ^bgfor I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 ^bhDo not fear the king of Babylon, ^biof whom you are afraid. ^bjDo not fear him, declares the Lord, ^bkfor I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 ^blI will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. 13 ^bmBut if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God 14 and saying, ‘No, ^bnwe will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or ^bohear the sound of the trumpet or ^bpbe hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^bqIf you set your faces to enter Egypt ^brand go to live there, 16 then the sword ^bsthat you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, ^btand there you shall die. 17 All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have ^buno remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.

18 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^bvAs my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. ^bwYou shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. 19 The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ^bx‘Do not go to Egypt.’ ^byKnow for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. ^bzFor you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ^ca‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and ^cbwhatever the Lord our God says, 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 in anything ^ccthat he sent me to tell you. 22 ^cdNow therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”

Jeremiah 43

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

1 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, 2 Azariah the son of ^ceHoshaiah and ^cfJohanan the son of Kareah and ^cgall the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, ^ch‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ 3 but ^ciBaruch the son of Neriah ^cjhas set you against us, ^ckto deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 4 So ^clJohanan the son of Kareah and all ^cmthe commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took ^cnall the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— 6 ^cothe men, the women, the children, ^cpthe princesses, and every person whom ^cqNebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with ^crGedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at ^csTahpanhes.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in ^ctTahpanhes: 9 “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in ^cuTahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^cvmy servant, ^cwand I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come ^cxand strike the land of Egypt, ^cygiving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 ^czI shall kindle a fire ^dain the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them ^dband carry them away captive. ^dcAnd he shall clean the land of Egypt ^ddas a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the ^deobelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, ^dfand the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

Jeremiah 44

Judgment for Idolatry

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at ^dgMigdol, at ^dhTahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of ^diPathros, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day ^djthey are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of the evil that they committed, ^dkprovoking me to anger, ^dlin that they went to make offerings ^dmand serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4 ^dnYet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ 5 ^doBut they did not listen ^dpor incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. 6 ^dqTherefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ^drand they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. 7 And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil ^dsagainst yourselves, to cut off from you ^dtman and woman, ^duinfant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? 8 ^dvWhy do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, ^dwmaking offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become ^dxa curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, ^dythe evil of the kings of Judah, ^dzthe evil of their ^{▼▼Hebrew his} wives, your own evil, ^eband the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not humbled themselves even to this day, ^ecnor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^edBehold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have ^eeset their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. ^efIn the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine ^egthey shall be consumed. ^ehFrom the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, ^eiand they shall become an oath, a horror, ^eja curse, and a taunt. 13 ^ekI will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 ^elso that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive ^emor return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, ^enexcept some fugitives.”

15 Then all the men who knew that ^eotheir wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in ^epPathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^eqwe will not listen to you. 17 ^erBut we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to ^esthe queen of heaven ^etand pour out drink offerings to her, ^euas we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. 18 But since we left off making offerings to ^evthe queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything ^ewand have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said, ^{▼▼Compare Syriac; Hebrew lacks And the women said} “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven ^eyand poured out drink offerings to her, was it ^ezwithout our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, ^famen and women, all the people who had given him this answer: 21 ^fb“As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, ^fcdid not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? 22 ^fdThe Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and ^fethe abominations that you committed. ^ffTherefore your land has become ^fga desolation and a waste and a curse, ^fhwithout inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 It is because you made offerings ^fiand because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies ^fjthat this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”

24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, ^fkall you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^flYou and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, ^fmto make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! 26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ^fnall you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ^foBehold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, ^fpthat my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, ^fqsaying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ 27 ^frBehold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. ^fsAll 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 of them. 28 ^ftAnd those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, ^fufew in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, ^fvshall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. 29 This shall be the sign to you, declares the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that ^fwmy words will surely stand against you for harm: 30 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give ^fxPharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies ^fyand into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave ^fzZedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”

Jeremiah 52:30

30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.