Jeremiah 40

¹ The word addressed to Jeremiah by Yahweh after Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, had released him from Ramah; there he had him singled out, chained as he was with all the other captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported to Babylon.

² Then taking Jeremiah aside, the commander of the guard said to him, ‘Yahweh your God foretold calamity for this country,

³ and now he has brought it. He has done what he threatened to do, because you had sinned against Yahweh and would not listen to his voice; so all this has happened to you.

⁴ Look, today I am having your hands unchained. If you like to come with me to Babylon, then come: I will look after you. If you do not want to come with me to Babylon, never mind. Look, you have the whole country to choose from: you may go where you please, wherever you choose.

⁵ You can, for instance, go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed governor of the towns of Judah, and stay with him and live with the people; or you can go anywhere else you choose.’ With that, the commander of the guard provided him with food and gave him a present and sent him on his way.

⁶ Jeremiah went to Mizpah to Gedaliah son of Ahikam and stayed with him, living with the people still left in the country.

⁷ When all the commanders of the troops, who with their men were still roaming the countryside, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor of the country, making him responsible for the men, women and children, and those humbler people of the country who had not been deported to Babylon,

⁸ they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

⁹ To them and to their men Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath. ‘Do not be afraid’ he said ‘of submitting to the Chaldaeans; but live in the country, and obey the king of Babylon, and all will go well with you.

¹⁰ I for my part, as the man answerable to the Chaldaeans when they come to us, am going to live here at Mizpah; but you can harvest your wine, summer fruits and oil, fill your storage jars and settle down in those towns which you care to occupy.’

¹¹ Similarly, when all the Judaeans living in Moab and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as their governor,

¹² they all came back from all the places to which they had been dispersed. On their return to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, they harvested an immense quantity of wine and summer fruits.

¹³ Now Johanan son of Kareah, and all the army leaders still roaming in the countryside, went to Gedaliah at Mizpah

¹⁴ and said to him, ‘Are you aware that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to murder you?’ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.

¹⁵ Johanan son of Kareah had even told Gedaliah secretly at Mizpah, ‘Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know who did it. Why should he murder you? It would mean that all the Judaeans who have rallied round you would be scattered again. Why should the remnant of Judah perish?’

¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam replied to Johanan son of Kareah, ‘You must not do this; what you say about Ishmael is false’.