1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, when he took him there bound in fetters among all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.
2 The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "The LORD your God spoke this evil against this place,
3 and the LORD has brought it and done just as he said; for you sinned against the LORD and did not listen to his voice, and so this thing has happened to you.
4 And now, see, today I free you from the fetters on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will keep my eye on you; but if it is bad in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, stay. Look, the whole land is before you; wherever it is good and right in your eyes to go, go there."
5 And while Jeremiah had not yet turned back, he said, "Return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people; or go wherever it is right in your eyes to go." Then the captain of the guard gave him provisions and a gift and sent him off.
6 So Jeremiah came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.
7 All the commanders of the forces in the countryside, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam over the land and had put in his charge men, women and little ones, from the poor of the land, those who had not been exiled to Babylon.
8 So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
9 Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, took an oath to them and their men: "Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.
10 As for me, see, I am staying at Mizpah to stand before the Chaldeans who come to us; but you, gather wine, summer fruit and oil, put them in your containers, and live in your towns that you have taken over."
11 Likewise all the Jews in Moab, among the children of Ammon, in Edom and in all the lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant to Judah and had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.
12 So all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been scattered and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah; and they gathered wine and summer fruit in great quantity.
13 Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces in the countryside came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
14 and said to him, "Are you aware that Baalis king of the children of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to strike you dead?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secret at Mizpah, "Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know. Why should he take your life and scatter all the Jews gathered around you, so that the remnant of Judah perishes?"
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "Do not do this thing, for what you are saying about Ishmael is a lie."