1 In the seventh month of the year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the king's chief officers, came with ten of his men to see Gedaliah at Mizpah. While they were eating to have a meal together, 2 suddenly Ishmael and his ten men got up and attacked Gedaliah, killing him—the one appointed by the king of Babylon as the country's governor. 3 Ishamel also killed all the other Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with the Babylonian soldiers there.

4 The day after Gedaliah had been murdered and before anyone knew about it, 5 a group of eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves.* All signs of extreme grief and mourning. They were carrying grain offerings and frankincense for the Lord's Temple. 6 Ishmael came out to meet them from Mizpah, weeping as he went along. When Ishmael met the men, he said, “Come and see what's happened to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!”

7 But when they arrived in town, Ishmael and his men killed most of† “Most of”: supplied for clarity in light of the next verse. them and threw their bodies into a cistern. 8 But ten of them pleaded with Ishmael, “Don't kill us! We've got some good things hidden in the fields—wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey.” So Ishmael didn't kill them along with the others.

9 (The cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he'd killed, including Gedaliah, was a large one that King Asa had dug because of the threat of attack by Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael filled it with bodies.)

10 Then Ishmael took all the people left in Mizpah prisoner, including the daughters of the king, as well as everyone else living there. These were the people that Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard had put under the care of Gedaliah. Ishmael took them prisoner and left to go to the Ammonites.

11 Johanan and all the army commanders of the armies with him found out about all of Ishmael's crimes. 12 So they assembled all their men and went to attack Ishmael. They caught up with him near the large pool in Gibeon.

13 When Ishmael's prisoners saw Johanan and all the army commanders with him, they were happy. 14 All those that Ishmael had taken prisoner at Mizpah turned around and ran back to Johanan. 15 Ishmael and eight of his men managed to escape from Johanan and get away to the Ammonites.

16 Then Johanan and all the army commanders with him took charge of the survivors from Mizpah he'd rescued from Ishmael in Gibeon—the soldiers, women, children, and court officials that Ishmael had taken prisoner after he'd killed Gedaliah. 17 They set off for Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem and stayed there, before leaving for Egypt 18 to get away from the Babylonians. They were afraid of what the Babylonians would do because Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah, the governor of the country appointed by the king of Babylon.