Jeremiah 48
A Murder at a Meal, and Hope Undone
← Jeremiah 47 · Jeremiah: all chapters · Jeremiah 49 →
Ishmael Kills Gedaliah
48:1In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elasa, of the king’s family, came with ten men to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They ate bread together there.
48:2Ishmael and the ten men with him rose and struck Gedaliah, whom Babylon’s king had appointed over the land,
48:3and all the Judeans with him at Mizpah, and all the Chaldeans found there.
48:4on the second day after he struck Gedaliah, when no one knew,
The Eighty Men from Shechem
48:5eighty men came from Shechem, Salem, and Samaria, their beards shaved, their clothes torn, and beating themselves, carrying grain offerings and frankincense to bring to the Lord’s house.
48:6Ishmael went out to meet them. They were walking and weeping, and he said to them, Come in to Gedaliah.
48:7When they entered the middle of the city, he slaughtered them into the cistern.
48:8Ten men found there said to Ishmael, Do not kill us, for we have stores in the countryside: wheat, barley, honey, and oil. He passed them by and did not kill them among their brothers.
48:9The cistern into which Ishmael threw all those he had struck down is a large cistern that King Asa made because of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael filled it with the slain.
48:10Ishmael turned back all the people left at Mizpah and the king’s daughters whom the chief guard had entrusted to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, and he went away to the far side of Ammon’s people.
Johanan Pursues Ishmael
48:11Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the force with him heard of all the evils Ishmael had done.
48:12They led their entire army and went away to fight him. They found him beside abundant water at Gibeon.
48:13When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan and the commanders of the force with him,
48:14they returned to Johanan.
48:15Ishmael escaped with eight men and went away to Ammon’s people.
48:16Johanan and all the commanders of the force with him took all the people left whom he had brought back from Ishmael: men mighty in war, the women, the rest, and the eunuchs whom he brought back from Gibeon.
They Stay at Gaberoth-chamaam
48:17They went away and stayed at Gaberoth-chamaam near Bethlehem, intending to go into Egypt,
48:18away from the Chaldeans, for they feared them because Ishmael had struck Gedaliah, whom Babylon’s king had appointed in the land.
← Jeremiah 47 · Jeremiah: all chapters · Jeremiah 49 →
Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.