 1 In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the son of Elishama of the royal family and the rulers of the king and ten men with him came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah. There they ate bread together in Mizpah. 2 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah rose, and the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war. 4 The second day after he killed Gedaliah and no one knew it, 5 some men from Shechem came from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even 80 men, with their beards shaved, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the Lord. 6 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he walked. As he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 7 When they came into the middle of the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, he and the men with him, and they threw them into the middle of the pit. 8 But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, Do not kill us, for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he held back and did not kill them among their brothers. 9 The pit in which Ishmael had thrown all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had killed because of Gedaliah, was the one which King Asa had made for fear of King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners had entrusted to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took captive and left to go over to the Ammonites. 11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. 12 Then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13 When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, then they were glad. 14 So all the people that Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. They took mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon. 17 They departed and lived in the inn of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.
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