¹ And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the blood royal, and one of the great officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah; and they ate bread there together in Mizpah.

² Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, arose, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

³ And all the Jews that were with him, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldaeans that were found there, the men of war, did Ishmael smite.

⁴ And it came to pass, the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it,

⁵ that there came certain men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, fourscore persons, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with an oblation and incense in their hands, to bring to the house of Jehovah.

⁶ And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went; and when he met them, he said to them, "Come ye to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam."

⁷ And when they had come into the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, slew them, and cast them into the pit, he and the men that were with him.

⁸ But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, "Slay us not, for we have hidden stores in the field, of wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey." He forbore, therefore, and slew them not with their brethren.

⁹ Now the pit into which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he slew, together with Gedaliah, is the same which King Asa made on account of Baasha, king of Israel; and Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled it with them that were slain.

¹⁰ And Ishmael took captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had committed to the charge of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam; even Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, took them captive, and set forth to go over [the Jordan] to the children of Ammon.

¹¹ But when Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil which Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done,

¹² they took all the men, and went up to fight with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and came up with him at the great waters that are in Gibeon.

¹³ And when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, they were glad;

¹⁴ and all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah faced about and returned, 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 children of Ammon.

¹⁶ Then took Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, strong men, men of war, and women, and children, and eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon;

¹⁷ and they went, and tarried in the inn of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, in order to flee into Egypt

¹⁸ from the Chaldaeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had slain Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.