Jeremiah 35

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

2 Go into the house of the Rechabites, and have talk with them, and take them into the house of the Lord, into one of the rooms, and give them wine.

“Go to the family of the Rekabites and speak with them. Then bring them to my house, into one of the rooms there, and give them wine to drink.”

3 Then I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and all the Rechabites;

So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah and his brothers, all his sons, and all the family of the Rekabites.

4 And I took them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the rulers' room, which was over the room of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door;

I took them to the house of Yahweh, into the rooms of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God. These rooms were beside the room of the leaders, which was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the gatekeeper.

5 And I put before the sons of the Rechabites basins full of wine and cups, and I said to them, Take some wine.

Then I placed bowls and cups full of wine in front of the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

6 But they said, We will take no wine: for Jonadab, the son of Rechab our father, gave us orders, saying, You are to take no wine, you or your sons, for ever:

But they said, “We will not drink any wine, for our ancestor, Jonadab son of Rekab, commanded us, 'Do not drink any wine, neither you nor your descendants, forever.

7 And you are to make no houses, or put in seed, or get vine-gardens planted, or have any: but all your days you are to go on living in tents, so that you may have a long life in the land where you are living as in a strange country.

Also, do not build any houses, sow any seeds, or plant any vineyards; this is not for you. For you must live in tents all your days, so that you might live many days in the land where you are staying as foreigners.'

8 And we have kept the rules of Jonadab, the son of Rechab our father, in everything which he gave us orders to do, drinking no wine all our days, we and our wives and our sons and our daughters;

We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rekab, our ancestor, in all that he commanded us, to never drink wine all of our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters.

9 Building no houses for ourselves, having no vine-gardens or fields or seed:

We will never build houses to live in, and there will be no vineyard, field, or seed in our possession.

10 But we have been living in tents, and have done everything which Jonadab our father gave us orders to do.

We have lived in tents and we have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our ancestor commanded us.

11 But when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land, we said, Come, let us go to Jerusalem, away from the army of the Chaldaeans and from the army of the Aramaeans: and so we are living in Jerusalem.

But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked the land, we said, 'Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape from the Chaldean and Aramean armies.' So we are living in Jerusalem.”

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

13 This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Go and say to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, Is there no hope of teaching you to give ear to my words? says the Lord.

“Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, 'Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive correction and listen to my words? —this is Yahweh's declaration.

14 The orders which Jonadab, the son of Rechab, gave to his sons to take no wine, are done, and to this day they take no wine, for they do the orders of their father: but I have sent my words to you, getting up early and sending them, and you have not given ear to me.

The words of Jonadab son of Rekab that he gave to his sons as a command, not to drink any wine, have been observed to this very day. They have obeyed their ancestor's command. But as for me, I myself have been making persistent proclamations to you, but you do not listen to me.

15 And I have sent you all my servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them, saying, Come back, now, every man from his evil way, and do better, and go not after other gods to become their servants, and you will go on living in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but your ears have not been open, and you have not given attention to me.

I sent out to you all my servants, the prophets. I was persistent in sending them to say, 'Let each person turn from his wicked way and do good deeds; let no one walk any longer after other gods and worship them. Instead, come back to the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.' Yet you will not listen to me or pay attention to me.

16 Though the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have done the orders of their father which he gave them, this people has not given ear to me:

For the descendants of Jonadab son of Rekab have observed the commands of their ancestor that he gave them, but this people refuses to listen to me.”'

17 For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, I will send on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the evil which I said I would do to them: because I sent my words to them, but they did not give ear; crying out to them, but they gave no answer.

So Yahweh, God of hosts and God of Israel, says this, 'Look, I am bringing upon Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem, all the disasters I pronounced against them because I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.'”

18 But to the Rechabites Jeremiah said, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Because you have done the orders of Jonadab your father, and have kept his rules, and done everything as he gave you orders to do it;

Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: You have listened to the commands of Jonadab your ancestor and have kept them all—you have obeyed all that he commanded you to do—

19 For this reason the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, will never be without a man to take his place before me.

so Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this, 'There will always be someone descended from Jonadab son of Rekab to serve me.'”