Jeremiah 40; Jeremiah 41; Jeremiah 42; Hebrews 4

1 The LORD spoke his word to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, let him go at Ramah. Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah in chains along with the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon.

2 The captain of the guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, "The LORD your God threatened to bring this disaster on this place.

3 He has carried out his threat. The LORD did as he promised because you Israelites have sinned against him and refused to obey him. That is why this has happened to you.

4 Today I'm removing the chains from your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, come, and I'll look after you. But if you don't want to come with me to Babylon, don't come. The whole land is yours. Go wherever you want.

5 "If you wish to remain, then go back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern the cities of Judah. Live among the people with him, or go anywhere you want." The captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go.

6 Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

7 All the army commanders and their men who were in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, to govern the country and some of the country's poorest men, women, and children who had not been taken away to Babylon.

8 These are the commanders who went with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan and Jonathan (sons of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth), the sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jezaniah, who was the son of a man from Maacah.

9 Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men. He said, "Don't be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper.

10 I'm going to live in Mizpah and represent you when the Babylonians come to us. Gather grapes, summer fruit, and olive oil, and put them in storage jars. Live in the cities you have taken over."

11 Now, all the Jews who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them.

12 So all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been scattered. They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They gathered a large harvest of grapes and summer fruit.

13 Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were still in the country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.

14 They asked him, "Do you know that King Baalis of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, to kill you?" However, Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, didn't believe them.

15 Then Johanan, Kareah's son, secretly asked Gedaliah at Mizpah, "Let me kill Ishmael, Nethaniah's son. No one will know about it. Why should he kill you? All the Jews who have gathered around you would scatter. What is left of Judah would disappear."

16 Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, told Johanan, Kareah's son, "Don't do that! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie."

1 In the seventh month Ishmael (son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and of the king's officers) went with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate together at Mizpah,

2 Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him got up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. So they assassinated the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.

3 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers that he found there.

4 The day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew about it,

5 80 men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. Their beards were shaved off, their clothes were torn, and cuts were on their bodies. They brought grain offerings and incense to the LORD's temple.

6 Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, left Mizpah to meet them, crying as he went. When he met them, he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam."

7 When they came into the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.

8 However, ten men from the group had said to Ishmael, "Don't kill us! We have wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey hidden in the country." So he left them alone and didn't kill them along with the others.

9 Now, the cistern where Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed was the same one that King Asa made as a part of his defense against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled it with the bodies.

10 Then Ishmael took captive the rest of the people who were at Mizpah. He captured the king's daughters and all the other people who had been left at Mizpah. They were the people whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had put under the control of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, took them captive and left for Ammon.

11 When Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had done,

12 they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael. They caught up with him at the large pool in Gibeon.

13 When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him, they were glad.

14 Then all the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and ran to Kareah's son Johanan.

15 Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to Ammon.

16 Then Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him brought back the rest of the people of Mizpah whom he had rescued from Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Johanan brought back men, women, children, soldiers, and commanders from Gibeon.

17 When they left Gibeon, they stayed near Bethlehem at Geruth Kimham on their way to Egypt.

18 They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had killed Gedaliah whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.

1 Then all the army commanders along with Kareah's son Johanan and Hoshaiah's son Jezaniah and all the people, from the least important to the most important, came to the prophet Jeremiah.

2 They said to him, "Please listen to our request, and pray to the LORD your God for all of us who are left here. As you can see, there are only a few of us left.

3 Let the LORD your God tell us where we should go and what we should do."

4 The prophet Jeremiah answered them, "I have listened to your request. I will pray to the LORD your God as you have requested, and I will tell you everything the LORD says. I won't keep anything from you."

5 They said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we don't do exactly what the LORD your God tells us to do.

6 We will obey the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, whether it's good or bad. Yes, we will obey the LORD our God so that everything will go well for us."

7 After ten days the LORD spoke his word to Jeremiah.

8 So Jeremiah called Kareah's son Johanan, all the army commanders who were with him, and all the people from the least important to the most important.

9 Jeremiah said to them, "You sent me to plead your case humbly to the LORD. This is what the LORD God of Israel says:

10 Suppose you stay in this land. Then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you. I will change my plans about the disaster I've brought on you.

11 Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Don't be afraid of him, declares the LORD. I'm with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power.

12 I will have compassion on you. I will make him have compassion on you and return you to your land.

13 "But suppose you say, 'We won't stay in this land,' and you disobey the LORD your God.

14 Then you say, 'We'll go to Egypt, where we won't have to see war, hear the sound of a ram's horn, or be hungry. We'll stay there.'

15 "Now, listen to the word of the LORD, you people who are left in Judah. This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Suppose you're determined to go to Egypt, and you go and live there.

16 Then the wars you fear will catch up with you in Egypt. The famines you dread will follow you to Egypt, and you will die there.

17 So all the people who decide to go and live in Egypt will die in wars, famines, and plagues. No one will survive or escape the disasters I will bring on them.

18 "This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: As my anger and my fury were poured out on those who live in Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become a curse word. You will become something ridiculed, cursed, and disgraced. You won't see this place again.

19 "The LORD has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. You need to know that I am warning you today.

20 You only deceived yourselves when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, 'Pray to the LORD our God for us, and tell us everything that the LORD our God says, and we'll do it.'

21 I have told you today, but you won't obey anything the LORD your God sent me to tell you.

22 But now, you need to know that you will die in wars, famines, or plagues in the place where you want to go and live."

1 God's promise that we may enter his place of rest still stands. We are afraid that some of you think you won't enter his place of rest.

2 We have heard the same Good News that your ancestors heard. But the message didn't help those who heard it in the past because they didn't believe.

3 We who believe are entering that place of rest. As God said, "So I angrily took a solemn oath that they would never enter my place of rest." God said this even though he had finished his work when he created the world.

4 Somewhere in Scripture God has said this about the seventh day: "On the seventh day God rested from all his work."

5 God also said in the same passage, "They will never enter my place of rest."

6 However, some people enter that place of rest. Those who heard the Good News in the past did not enter God's place of rest because they did not obey God.

7 So God set another day. That day is today. Many years after [your ancestors failed to enter that place of rest] God spoke about it through David in the passage already quoted: "If you hear God speak today, don't be stubborn."

8 If Joshua had given the people rest, God would not have spoken about another day.

9 Therefore, a time of rest and worship exists for God's people.

10 Those who entered his place of rest also rested from their work as God did from his.

11 So we must make every effort to enter that place of rest. Then no one will be lost by following the example of those who refused to obey.

12 God's word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts as deep as the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet. God's word judges a person's thoughts and intentions.

13 No creature can hide from God. Everything is uncovered and exposed for him to see. We must answer to him.

14 We need to hold on to our declaration of faith: We have a superior chief priest who has gone through the heavens. That person is Jesus, the Son of God.

15 We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn't sin.

16 So we can go confidently to the throne of God's kindness to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time.