Jeremiah 41:7

7 and when they were come to the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them about the midst of the pit, he and the men that were with him. (and when they were come into the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the men who were with him, killed them there, and threw them into the midst of the pit.)

Jeremiah 41:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 41:7

And it was [so], when they came into the midst of the city,
&c.] Where Gedaliah's house was, to which he invited them; and as they went in, he shut up the court, as Josephus F8 says, and slew them, as it here follows: that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, [and cast them] into the
midst of the pit;
when he had slain them, the fourscore men he had enticed into the city, except ten of them, he cast their dead bodies into a pit near at hand: he, and the men that [were] with him;
Ishmael and the ten princes, with what servants they brought with them; these were all concerned in the death of these men.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4.

Jeremiah 41:7 In-Context

5 fourscore men with shaven beards, and rent clothes, and pale men, came from Shechem, and from Shiloh, and from Samaria; and they had gifts and incense in the hand, for to offer in the house of the Lord. (eighty men with shaved beards, and torn clothes, and pale from cutting themselves, came from Shechem, and from Shiloh, and from Samaria; and they had gifts and incense in their hands, to offer in the House of the Lord.)
6 Therefore Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went out of Mizpah into the meeting of them; and he went going and weeping (weeping as he went). Soothly when he had met them, he said to them, Come ye to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam;
7 and when they were come to the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them about the midst of the pit, he and the men that were with him. (and when they were come into the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the men who were with him, killed them there, and threw them into the midst of the pit.)
8 But ten men were found among them, that said to Ishmael, Do not thou slay us, for we have treasure(s) of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey, in the field. And he ceased, and killed not them with their brethren. (But ten men were found among them, who said to Ishmael, Do not thou kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey, in the field. And so he ceased, and did not kill them with their kinsmen.)
9 Forsooth the pit into which Ishmael casted forth all the carrions of [the] men, which he killed for Gedaliah, is that pit, which king Asa made for Baasha, the king of Israel; Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled that pit with slain men. (And the pit into which Ishmael cast forth all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had lured to their deaths using the name of Gedaliah, is that pit, which King Asa made for Baasha, the king of Israel; Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled that pit with dead men.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.