King James VersionJeremiah40

Jeremiah

1 The word that came to Jeremi­ah from the LORD, af­ter that Neb­uzaradan the cap­tain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had tak­en him be­ing bound in chains among all that were car­ried away cap­tive of Jerusalem and Ju­dah, which were car­ried away cap­tive unto Baby­lon. 2 And the cap­tain of the guard took Jeremi­ah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pro­nounced this evil upon this place. 3 Now the LORD hath brought it, and done ac­cord­ing as he hath said: be­cause ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, there­fore this thing is come upon you. 4 And now, be­hold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Baby­lon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Baby­lon, for­bear: be­hold, all the land is be­fore thee: whith­er it seemeth good and con­ve­nient for thee to go, thith­er go. 5 Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Baby­lon hath made gov­er­nor over the cities of Ju­dah, and dwell with him among the peo­ple: or go where­so­ev­er it seemeth con­ve­nient unto thee to go. So the cap­tain of the guard gave him vict­uals and a re­ward, and let him go. 6 Then went Jeremi­ah unto Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam to Miz­pah; and dwelt with him among the peo­ple that were left in the land. 7 Now when all the cap­tains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Baby­lon had made Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam gov­er­nor in the land, and had com­mit­ted unto him men, and wom­en, and chil­dren, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not car­ried away cap­tive to Baby­lon; 8 Then they came to Gedali­ah to Miz­pah, even Ish­mael the son of Netha­ni­ah, and Jo­hanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Sera­iah the son of Tan­humeth, and the sons of Ephai the Ne­tophathite, and Jeza­ni­ah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 9 And Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, say­ing, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Baby­lon, and it shall be well with you. 10 As for me, be­hold, I will dwell at Miz­pah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gath­er ye wine, and sum­mer fruits, and oil, and put them in your ves­sels, and dwell in your cities that ye have tak­en. 11 Like­wise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Am­monites, and in Edom, and that were in all the coun­tries, heard that the king of Baby­lon had left a rem­nant of Ju­dah, and that he had set over them Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan; 12 Even all the Jews re­turned out of all places whith­er they were driv­en, and came to the land of Ju­dah, to Gedali­ah, unto Miz­pah, and gath­ered wine and sum­mer fruits very much. 13 More­over Jo­hanan the son of Kareah, and all the cap­tains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedali­ah to Miz­pah, 14 And said unto him, Dost thou cer­tain­ly know that Baalis the king of the Am­monites hath sent Ish­mael the son of Netha­ni­ah to slay thee? But Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam be­lieved them not. 15 Then Jo­hanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedali­ah in Miz­pah se­cret­ly, say­ing, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ish­mael the son of Netha­ni­ah, and no man shall know it: where­fore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gath­ered unto thee should be scat­tered, and the rem­nant in Ju­dah per­ish? 16 But Gedali­ah the son of Ahikam said unto Jo­hanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speak­est false­ly of Ish­mael.