1Now it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and the officers of the king, and ten men with him came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, to Mizpah; and there at Mizpah they ate bread together.
2Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah rose up, and the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him, the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
3Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
4Now it happened on the second day after he had put Gedaliah to death, when no one yet knew,
5that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men, with beards shaved off and garments torn and having cut themselves, with a grain offering and frankincense in their hand, to bring to the house of Yahweh.
6And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and when he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”
7And it happened, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah slaughtered them and threw them into the midst of the cistern, he and the men who were with him.
8But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have stores hidden in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey.” So he refrained and did not put them to death among their brothers.
9Now the cistern into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down alongside Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made because of Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
10Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizpah—the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
11But when Johanan son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,
12they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
13Now it happened that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, they rejoiced.
14And all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned about and came back and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.
15But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men from Johanan and went to the Ammonites.
16Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the men, the men of war, and the women and the little ones and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.
17And they went and stayed at Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, intending to go on to enter Egypt,
18because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
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