Jeremiah 41:1-18
41 So it came about in the seventh month that Ishʹma·el+ the son of Neth·a·niʹah the son of E·lishʹa·ma+ of the royal offspring*+ and [of the] principal men of the king and ten other men with him+ came to Ged·a·liʹah* the son of A·hiʹkam at Mizʹpah.+ And there they began to eat bread together in Mizʹpah.+
2 Then Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah and the ten men that happened to be with him rose up and struck down Ged·a·liʹah the son of A·hiʹkam the son of Shaʹphan with the sword.+ So he put to death the one whom the king of Babylon had commissioned over the land.+
3 And all the Jews who happened to be with him, that is, with Ged·a·liʹah, in Mizʹpah, and the Chal·deʹans who were found there, that is, the men of war, Ishʹma·el struck down.
4 And it came about on the second day of the putting of Ged·a·liʹah to death, when there was no one at all that knew [it],+
5 then there came men from Sheʹchem,+ from Shiʹloh+ and from Sa·marʹi·a,+ eighty men with their beards shaved off+ and with their garments ripped apart and with cuts made upon themselves,+ and there were grain offering and frankincense+ in their hand to bring to the house of Jehovah.
6 So Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah went out from Mizʹpah to meet them, weeping while he was walking along.+ And it came about that as soon as he encountered them he proceeded to say to them: “Come to Ged·a·liʹah the son of A·hiʹkam.”
7 But it occurred that as soon as they came into the midst of the city, Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah went slaughtering them [and throwing them]* into the midst of the cistern, he and the men that were with him.+
8 But there were ten men that were found among them who immediately said to Ishʹma·el: “Do not put us to death, for there exist in our possession hidden treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey.”+ So he refrained, and he did not put them to death in the midst of their brothers.
9 Now the cistern into which Ishʹma·el+ threw all the carcasses of the men that he had struck down was a great cistern,* the one that King Aʹsa had made because of Baʹa·sha the king of Israel.+ It was the one that Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah* filled with those slain.
10 Then Ishʹma·el took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizʹpah,+ the daughters of the king+ and all the people who were remaining over in Mizʹpah,+ whom Neb·uʹzar·adʹan the chief of the bodyguard had put in the custody of Ged·a·liʹah the son of A·hiʹkam.+ So Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah took them captive and went off to cross over to the sons of Amʹmon.+
11 In time Jo·haʹnan+ the son of Ka·reʹah and all the chiefs of the military forces+ who were with him got to hear all the bad that Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah had done.
12 Consequently they took all the men and went off to fight against Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah and found him by the abundant waters that were in Gibʹe·on.+
13 Then it came about that as soon as all the people that were with Ishʹma·el saw Jo·haʹnan the son of Ka·reʹah and all the chiefs of the military forces who were with him, they began to rejoice.
14 And all the people whom Ishʹma·el had led captive from Mizʹpah+ proceeded to turn around and return and go to Jo·haʹnan the son of Ka·reʹah.
15 And as for Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah, he escaped+ with eight men from before Jo·haʹnan, that he might go to the sons of Amʹmon.
16 Jo·haʹnan+ the son of Ka·reʹah and all the chiefs of the military forces who were with him now took all the remnant of the people whom they brought back from Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah, from Mizʹpah, after he had struck down Ged·a·liʹah+ the son of A·hiʹkam, able-bodied men, men of war, and the wives and the little children and the court officials, whom he brought back from Gibʹe·on.
17 So they went and took up dwelling in the lodging place of Chimʹham that was beside Bethʹle·hem,+ in order to go on and enter into Egypt,+
18 because of the Chal·deʹans;+ for they had become afraid because of them,+ since Ishʹma·el the son of Neth·a·niʹah had struck down Ged·a·liʹah the son of A·hiʹkam,+ whom the king of Babylon had commissioned over the land.+
Footnotes
^ Or, “offspring of the kingship.”
^ “And throwing them,” Sy. See vs 9.
^ “Was a great cistern,” LXX; M, “by the hand (at the instance) of Gedaliah.”
