Jeremiah 48

1 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elasa, of the royal line, came with ten men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they ate bread there together. [a] 2 Then Ishmael and the ten men who were with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had put in charge of the land, 3 and all the Jews who were with him at Mizpah, and all the Chaldeans who were found there.

4 On the second day after he had struck Gedaliah down, when no one yet knew of it, 5 men came from Shechem and from Salem and from Samaria — eighty men, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, beating their breasts, with grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring into the house of the Lord. [b] 6 Ishmael went out to meet them. They were walking along weeping, and he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah.” 7 When they had come into the middle of the city, he slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern. [c] 8 But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have stores hidden in the field — wheat and barley, honey and oil.” So he held off and did not kill them along with their brothers. 9 Now the cistern into which Ishmael threw all those he had struck down was the great cistern that King Asa had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael carried off all the people who were left at Mizpah, and the king’s daughters, whom the captain of the guard had entrusted to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, and he set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces with him heard of all the harm Ishmael had done, 12 they brought their whole camp and went to fight him, and they found him by the great waters at Gibeon. 13 When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan and the commanders of the forces with him, 14 they turned back to Johanan. [d] 15 But Ishmael escaped with eight men and went to the Ammonites. 16 Johanan and all the commanders of the forces with him took all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael — men strong in war, the women, the rest, and the eunuchs — whom he had brought back from Gibeon, 17 and they went and stayed at Gaberoth-chamaam, near Bethlehem, intending to go on into Egypt [e] 18 away from the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael had struck down Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had put in charge of the land.