Jeremiah 41:4-18 - The Massacre Of The Mourners

⁴ {And then} on the second day of the killing of Gedaliah--and {no one} knew-- ⁵ then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men [with] shaven beards and torn garments, [who had] cut themselves with blades, {having} grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring [to] the {temple} of Yahweh. ⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, {weeping as he came}. {And then} as [he was] meeting them, he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam." ⁷ {And then}, the moment of their coming to the middle of the city, then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, {along with} the men who [were] with him, slaughtered them [and threw them] to the middle of the pit.

⁸ But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, "You must not kill us, for {we have} hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen. ⁹ Now the pit [into] which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had killed {along with} Gedaliah [was the same one] that King Asa had made because of Baasha the king of Israel, [who was] against him. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled [it with] the slain ones.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who [were] in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, [over] whom Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael took them captive and set out to cross over to the {Ammonites}.

¹¹ When Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him, heard all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹² then they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. And they met him at [the] great pool that [is] in Gibeon. ¹³ {And then}, the moment that all the people who [were] with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him, they were glad. ¹⁴ So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵ But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men {from} Johanan, and they went to the {Ammonites}. ¹⁶ Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, strong men, {soldiers}, and women, and little children, and eunuchs whom he brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷ And they set out and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham that [is] near Bethlehem, {intending} to go [to] Egypt

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid {of them}, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed [in an official position] over the land.